Children Of Hell
by AmyDeHP
Summary: Gabriella Herondale has to make her way in a war between good and evil while making the right decisions for her kind and herself.
1. Bargain

I'm becoming a betrayer. I'm betraying my kind, betraying The Clave, betraying the way my parents and my grandparents have raised me to be.

But something about the way he talked seemed true to me. Something told me that he's a much stronger man –or, I take that back, a much stronger _thing_- than coming to me and asking for my help, unless it was for the reasons he has mentioned, and no, I can't figure out any other reasons right now.

If I forget… for a second… who I'm dealing with, I'm a fool. This is new to me… this is new to everyone and it's wrong… God knows, it's probably the biggest mistake of all and if my decision is wrong, this planet is on the guillotine.

For a second, I wished my parabatai was here. He would have understood… he would have helped me, held me back, not let me do this stupid thing that I'm doing only because of some impulse. I sighed. Samuel Blackthorne is gone God only knows where. How I missed you, Sam.

His red eyes stare at me quietly, and it's time for my final decision. Should I make that deal with Lucifer?

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Only hours before that, I was visiting my grandmother. She and my grandfather (Well, it's only her now) run the New York Institute with The Lightwoods. I think they could have had a luxurious manor in Idris, or maybe they already own one, but I don't think they could bear to leave New York. They're New Yorkers, not Idrisians. They lived in this city their whole lives and here is where their love was born.

I visited my grandmother because I was planning to go searching for my Parabatai. My best friend… my brother who disappeared months ago. We were in Appalachia, killing a Behemoth demon in a forest on a mountain. We'd go on trips like these sometimes… Sam and I are usually too bored with just the casual New York demons we stumble upon rarely nowadays… demons are a rare thing to stumble upon since the war was over, 40 years ago. A terrible war my grandmother hates recalling. Anyway… Sam disappeared. I killed the demon but Sam was just… gone. I looked at him, killed the demon, looked back and he wasn't there. No body, no blood, no traces.

The Clave searched for him for long. Sam is important, and so am I. The reasons a 22 year old shadowhuntress and her fellow 21 year old Parabatai would be so important to the Clave they offer them honorary council seats, is a long story.

I knew I'd go and search for him. That's what my grandfather would have done if his parabatai, uncle Alec, had disappeared. That's what my grandmother would have done too if her parabatai Isabelle (she firmly refuses that we call her aunt) had. That's what parabatai are for. Only I had to wait because my search had to be out of Clave law… I knew that because I would stop at nothing to save Sam. I could feel it in my heart that he was alive and okay, only I couldn't tell where he was or why he wasn't right here.

All those thoughts crossed my head in the elevator. When I arrived to the second floor of the institute, I remembered exactly the reason why I'm here: I want runes from my grandmother. Runes as powerful as only she could do.

By this time, she'd be at the library. She loved having her breakfast at the library. It reminded her of grandpa because they used to do it together. I walked the institute's corridors to the library and I opened its door.

My grandmother sat there, drinking her black coffee and buttered toast with jelly. She was reading some book. She looked up and smiled as if she'd expected me.

"Gaby. Always good to see you, my girl."

It's amazing how she held up till now. It's been three years since my grandfather disappeared while demon hunting. I guess she'd known that would happen one day or something like it… my grandfather was almost adrenaline junkie when it came to demon hunting. I think I'm almost half like him. My grandmother, Clarissa Herondale, would have been completely on her own those three years if it weren't for me and my friends, with my parents in Idris for their work and my grandfather God knows where.

"Clary." I said, with a smile. Like her parabatai, Isabelle, she hated it when we called her with titles, either familial or formal, and she also preferred being called Clary to Clarissa (Just like me, Gaby to Gabriella). She and Isabelle have a lot in common, but they don't realize that. I think my grandmother's constant presence around my grandfather made her feel constantly young. It must make anyone feel that way, I have to confess.

"No news from Sam, I'm afraid."

"No." I said with a sigh. "None."

"And Magnus and Nicko are still failing to track him?"

"Yes."

"Let me guess why you've come for me today." She smiled like a grandmother who knows her granddaughter.

"You're guessing correctly."

She posed for seconds. And then, she walked to one of the shelves and pulled out one of the books. "You know the research for your grandfather is still going on till now, don't you."

"And also the research for Sam, but they're nowhere near finding him." That came out dryer than I'd planned.

She smiled. "Oh, I'm not trying to persuade you not to go. As a matter of fact, I'm trying to say the entire opposite. There were days when I was Clary Fray, a young and talented girl who was able to move mountains to save a boy named Jace Herondale. Today, that person still exists. The only difference is that she's still ready to move those mountains… yet no longer able. You know, I wish I was out there right now. Doing whatever it takes to find your grandfather. I know he's alive. But I'm old, my girl… I'm old."

She raised her head and looked at the top floor. She smiled darkly. "One day I hid up there and watched your grandfather a totally different person that the one I'd known. A part of me thought I'd lost him forever. It was one of the darkest moments of my life."

I looked at her in pain, regretting that I talked to her dryly. "You prefer not to talk about that time, don't you?"

"Not in details, no. I'm only going to tell you that I won't let that happen to you. Use the fact that you're young and able to save Samuel and do it. Don't be feeble like I am right now. I'll give you the most powerful runes I'm capable of but please… do something for him."

I smiled to my grandmother. This is one of the times I got reminded of why I loved her. I was most like her and grandpa. They raised me. I'm not blaming my parents for the fact that their job in Idris made them too busy to take care of me, I'm only stating facts: My grandparents took the role of my parents maybe ever since I was born. And I knew I couldn't leave her with Sam and go to Idris for the council job we got offered just like she didn't leave me, and just for the same reasons I couldn't leave New York: By nature I should belong to my parents and to Idris, but by circumstances and in actuality I belong to my grandparents and to New York.

"Have you heard from mum and dad recently?" I asked her, frowning a little bit.

"Your father called me and told me to say he misses you. The research for Jace and Sam is still on."

I hid my frown. "Do you have a stele, old woman, or do you need mine?"

She frowned, this time. "This is a ridiculous question, Gabriella."

Of course it is. A stele to my grandmother is what a seraph blade is to me or to grandpa.

I smiled… an adrenaline-full smile that I inherited from grandpa. "Let's get the work done, then."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"…Then why do I have the feeling I'm going to miss something major, Gaby?"

I sighed. "I told you, Nicko, I'm only going to meet my parents in Idris. When I start making any move to find Sam I'm telling you and the guys. I promise."

"Look, just know that if you do something big without us it's a major betrayal to Team Good.03. Just know that." said Nicko.

"Nicko, I do. Okay?" I said lightly, but with a terrible sense of guilt.

That's what we call ourselves. Me, Sam, Nicko, May, Jake and Moon. By the equality of numbers between boys and girls in the group, you'd think we're all couples, but we're not.

There's me. Gabriella Herondale. My parents are Stephen Jr. and Danielle (Originally Penhallow) Herondale. My inheritance of looks and personality is divided between my parents and my paternal grandparents. I inherited half of my personality from grandpa and the other half from Clary. As for my looks… I have my mother's black messy hair and my father's tawny eyes and high cheekbones he inherited from grandpa.

And then, there's Sam. Samuel Blackthorne. He had soft brown hair and blue eyes. He was attractive and everyone around us was waiting for us to get together already, but they didn't know. Sam and I were purely friends… even purer than my grandmother's friendship with Simon; Simon did have feelings for her for a while before he and Isabelle got together. As for Sam and I… Sam never had feelings for me. I'm not blind to what I call "The friendzoned-bestfriend's-unfriendly-feelings" like other girls. I spent half my life observing Sam for anything that might be torturing him about me, but there was none. He fell in love several times and broke up for several reasons, none of them was me. When this became clear to me, we went through the Parabatai Ceremony. So let me be clear on the fact that there's no impossible-romance thing that will go on between Sam and I in this story.

There's also Nicko. Nicko is a warlock. He was adopted by Uncle Alec and Magnus when he was newly born. Of course, his demon father fled back to hell and his mother tried to get rid of him when she saw the cat ears. He was found in the street by Alec and the adoption was his idea, and Magnus was extremely welcoming. Nobody mentions that story much, though. Nicko had red hair from which sprung two honey colored cat ears, freckles and hazel eyes.

May, strangely, was a fey. She was smart, but not cunning. She spent her entire life out of the Seelie court, we met her by chance at Taki's when Nicko thought it was odd for a fey –With her baby pink hair and her grass green eyes she was easy to recognize- to read The Tale Of Two Cities, a mundane book that I personally loved. Turned out May lived in New York, constantly under glamour, and even studied at some mundane university. It wasn't unlawful as long as she kept the secrecy, yet strange for her kind. They usually held on to their tradition, their court and their serpent manners.

Jake… Jacob Morales, is a vampire. He was bitten two years ago, at the age of eighteen. Ever since, he's living with Simon and Isabelle. They're helping him live with his new nature. He's been coming out of the fledgling phase, but he's still two years old as a vampire. The company of a group of cool guys and girls his age (Team Good.03) helped him a lot. May and Jake are the only romantic couple in the team.

This leaves Moon. Moon is, like me, Nicko and Jake, a descendent of Team Good.01. She was bitten by a werewolf when she was 5. Being at that young age she could have died, but a praetor found her and brought her to the care of the Praetor Lupus. She is now Praetor and she was adopted by original "Team Gooders" Jordan and Maia. Her name before her transformation, of course, wasn't Moon –That would have been a skeptical coincidence- it was Mona. We don't know when or how, or even whether she approved of it or not, her parents, her fellow praetors and everybody else started calling her Moon. So now she is Moon Kyle.

So, this is us, Team Good.03, and this is me sitting with Nicko at Taki's waiting for the other three.

The door opened and Moon came in. Her careless blond braid and her beautiful green eyes and her length, they all made her such a pretty girl. Yet, Moon was quite careless about her beauty. Boys always fancied Moon, but none of them was serious enough to actually give her the love she deserved, so she only had casual short relationships, but no long-terms or serious ones.

Kaelie lazily dropped another menu on our table for Moon and walked.

"I have a feeling our shadowhunter friend here is about to do something stupid." Nicko said while Moon was still pulling her chair.

"Something stupid without us? Not stupid enough."

"Or good enough. Tell her that."

"Guys… it's nothing! I'm only visiting my parents in Idris."

"Do you believe this…. Moon?"

"Well it doesn't sound _that_ stupid…"

"I'm almost sure she's going to do something about Sam," said Nicko with his usual high tone.

There are reasons why I couldn't have them come with me. I couldn't endanger them. They were not shadowhunters. Yes, Sam and I are their friends and yes, we've protected each other in the past, but they've already lived enough of this life they're not prepared for. We are shadowhunters and we were born for this, Sam and I. They were not. Plus, May has a happy life and so do Jake and Nicko and Moon, the last three have amazing adoptive parents we all love and I'd hate to break their hearts, haven't they worried enough about their children already last summer? And Jake and May have an amazing relationship I'd hate to ruin. I'd hate to ruin their peace. Let's keep it that way.

"Nicko I told you I'm NOT."

"I know you, Gaby."

"Well… yes, I am going to do something about Sam, but after this visit to my parents. I've planned this. I'm visiting them for their blessings and to say goodbye just in case and all this bla bla bla, and when I come from Idris we're all packing to go and look for Sam." I posed to look for his reaction. He looked at me with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You're still skeptic."

"No, _you_ are being super skeptical right now."

"Right now all I care about is my burger. Hey Kaelie can I have a hamburger here."

"A strawberry milk shake, Kaelie." Nicko yelled.

"A double beef burger for me." That, of course, was Moon who, being werewolf, ate more meat than any of us.

"So where are Jake and May?" I asked.

"At Jake's. I stopped by to tell them to come here and I thought it would be nice if I lingered but they looked like they _really_ needed privacy so I ran off," Moon answered me.

"And where were Simon and Isabelle?" I asked. Jake still lived with them since he needed help with the whole vampire thing. Simon said he'd be able to live alone soon, but not before a year or two more. This might have been soon for someone who had the entire eternity to live.

"Probably at the institute with Clary, I don't know."

I didn't tell them this couldn't be because grandma was alone at the institute by the time because they didn't know I visited her. They probably just ran off because Jake and May looked way too titillating.

"Sometimes it's really hard being around couples. See, that's one of the reasons it's good to be single… you feel like the sober one at the party." That was Nicko.

"I don't know if being sober at a party is _that_ good, Nicko." I mumbled, but loud enough for the two to hear me and sigh. Our food came, I finished mine quickly.

"I've got to go," I said. "got stuff to prepare. My bags and all. Is your father available tonight Nicko? I need a portal to Idris."

"Which one of them?"

"Don't be an idiot, which of them is the one able to open portals and send blue sparks out of his fingers to say "Enjoy your trip"?"

"Uh… sorry. Yes, I think he is. But I can do that for you too."

No. I'm not actually portaling to Idris, and Magnus will do this favor for me, but Nicko will definitely not let me go wherever I'm going without him. I needed a quick excuse why I need Magnus and not Nicko to do this, though.

"No, I need Magnus, because… he said he has some words for my parents before I go."

Nicko and Moon exchanged suspicious looks.

"When Jake and May come tell them I had to go, I'll try to stop at their place later."

"Okay. Take care. Wherever you're going…" said Moon.

"Yeah."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

So here I am in my apartment planning what to take with me exactly.

My gear. Lots of seraph blades. Daggers… my weapon of choice. Also some other weapons I'm an expert with… bows and arrows, I was taught those by Uncle Alec. Electrum whips… by Isabelle. My stele… grandma took that part. Grandpa taught me everything else. Also some other normal clothes; I'm pretty sure I won't spend the whole time with gear.

For the trip I wore an "I heart NYC" hoodie and jeans. I wore them to convince Nicko that I was meeting my parents, because he knows I love conveying that message to my parents every time it's possible: That I'm satisfied with my life in New York with my grandparents and friends, that it's not the glamorous Alicante manor or council job that I was after.

My appointment with Magnus still had one hour to go though and I don't want to disturb his peace with Alec by being early. I went to the kitchen and made mint tea and sat in the living room of my Brooklyn apartment. Quite brave of a girl to live in Brooklyn alone, but I'd already put some mundane thieves and rapists to their punishment before.

I was squeezing the warm china of my cup with my hands when I heard a noise in my bedroom.

Easy, Gaby. This is Brooklyn, like you just said. Could be a thief or something and he'll have just what he deserves. Not necessarily a demon. What's most important is that I get a weapon before I get there, as quiet as possible. There are weapons everywhere around the house. Right in this vase on the table right in front of me, there's a Herondale dagger. I took it and slid to the bedroom. My whole weapons' bag I'd prepared for the trip is in there, but It's not a problem; even if he had a machine gun, his reflexes and actions will never be as fast as mine, his muscles not even close to half as strong.

I posed for a second at the bedroom's closed door (Of course, he must have slid through the window) to get ready. That guy is about to get squashed. I felt my natural shadowhunter blood rush through me and the extra amount of angel blood I inherited from my paternal grandparents through my father pounded in my veins wanting to slaughter that human beast.

I snapped the door open and it took the "man" two seconds to turn to me, but they were enough for me to recognize his behind and stop.

That black suite. The black ashen hair. Not that this was a limited sort of looks in a way, but nobody did it like him. Nobody radiated evil like that.

Of course, he wasn't necessarily a "demon". The thought crosses my head as he turns to me and smiles… his red eyes shining… all his dead white teeth bare, his two fangs… his smile was the most terrifying sight in the history of my eyes that have seen a lot, God knows. His features were near perfection and he'd be easily called handsome if it wasn't for the horrifying smile. Of course, the seducer of all humanity _must_ be handsome.

No, he wasn't a demon… he was _The _Demon. The morning star. The lord of hell. The demon of all demons. Father of the finishing warlock. The Devil. He had a million names and none of them succeeded to describe the terror that ran in my veins instead of the power I felt seconds ago.

"We meet again, Shadowhuntress Gabriella Herondale." He says in a frosting voice and a foreign, probably eastern accent. Yes, I have heard them before. Yes, I have seen him before and yet he doesn't fail to terrify me.

"Lucifer," I whisper.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

It was last summer that we met. Team Good.03 was demon hunting somewhere in Transylvania when it captured an unorthodox signal of demonic presence. Before it, we'd seen no evil. Jake was joking about the call in his blood from the vampires old as history who lived here, and Moon was occasionally howling. After it, we got into serious mode. We were near one of those old, creepy Transylvania castles that did indeed remind me of those old vampires in mundane movies.

We got ready for probably a greater demon or a group of small demons, but what we definitely hadn't expected was The Lord of Hell. It was him, it seemed to us one of those rare humans who succeed at summoning demons has brought him. An idiot who thought he could control Lucifer. Lucifer killed the people who summoned him and he was about to go to the outer world and do God knows what… and we'd found him. There was no time to call on The Clave for reinforcements or even extra weapons, it was a live or die situation.

We defeated him. Only God knows how. Sam and I used seraph blades named after the greatest of angels, Gabriel and Michael, and we succeeded, with Moon's, May's and Jake's help to distract him while Nicko drew a very powerful pentagram he'd learned from his father… we dragged him to its center and Nicko sent him, with a ton of effort, back to hell.

It was a miracle. I think a lot of shadowhunters don't believe until today that two twenty year old shadowhunters and four downworlders sent Lucifer back to hell defeated. The truth is the fight mortified us, after it we were drained and exhausted, but all of us received a lot of kudos and got offered council seats and all that stuff. So that's the story of the council seats Sam and I (And the entire Team Good.03, in fact) refused just to stay in New York.

So this is me and a dagger against _that_ Lucifer, right now.

He could read my thoughts, I think.

"Believe me, there's no need for a weapon." He said coldly.

"You're the lord of liars." I said as I ran to the kitchen. I might have been a shadowhuntress, but still, my biggest stock of seraph weapons was in my kitchen, because it was unexpected by the enemy. I'd touched the first seraph blade my hand met in one of the drawers when he was already behind me.

"I'm not here to fight you, daughter of the angel, I'm here to negotiate a deal."

"Raphael" and the seraph blades shone of bright light that reflected the angel Raphael's power. "And what sort of deal with you would bring anything other than pain to my kind?" I say, as I turn and point it to his chest.

"A deal I need to make for my own sake?"

"Liar. You're here to have your revenge on me. And it must have been you who kidnapped Sam too, wasn't it?"

"I am the lord of liars as you have mentioned earlier, Gabriella Herondale, but not in this instant. You'd be dead by now had I wanted you to be."

"What do you want, devil?"

"Just for you to listen to me and make your decision. Only a few minutes. I understand those minutes must be nothing to me because of my immortality, but I reckon, even to your short life of a human, they're not that much wasted time, are they? Especially when they lead to saving your kind."

I posed to observe the situation. I had only one seraph blade up his chest, and I was sure he could get away from it and kill me… had he wanted to. Lucifer wouldn't stop and talk if he wanted to kill.

"Why would you want to save my kind? You… The pride that leads to man's doom… the fallen angel… father of the world's destroyer?"

"You have saved me a lot of talk. By getting to the point of the world's destroyer, I mean."

"I still don't know what that is."

"I have a lot of time to play with your kind. To move them… shake them… let them swim in their sins. This is not the time I intend to bear the finishing warlock… and yet one of my children intends to be him. Wouldn't you agree with me that he should be stopped?"

I pose for even longer and remember the story. The story of the finishing warlock… the world's destroyer.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

His name is Brother Nathaniel. He is the most important silent brother in our story because out of all the brothers, he went deep enough into the history books to find this.

All of the Shadowhunters and Downworlders and anyone acquainted with our dark world know that demons, small ones and greater ones, even princes of hell, leave hell and look for some momentary love affairs with mortal women. A lot of them get pregnant and the offspring is the kind of warlocks. That doesn't exclude Lucifer who, like all greater demons, gets bored of commanding hell and looks for some "vacations".

The history book Brother Nathaniel found said that a warlock born to Lucifer would be the destroyer of Earth. He is what some religions call "The Antichrist" and what Shadowhunter History called "The finishing warlock". His great power would come from his father who'd give him all that is necessary to call on the realm of hell into earth and destroy it. God only knows when Lucifer intends to bear that warlock, but ever since the historical research about the matter was discovered by Brother Nathaniel, The Clave and The Covenant are getting ready for war.

Every shadowhunter in the world is now doubly trained. Even downworlders receive training to fight now. Every warlock that is known to be a child of Lucifer was investigated until proven as "Not the one we're looking for".

I remember the story while looking into Lucifer's red, yet strangely cold eyes. He smiled again, only without baring his teeth, but it was scary enough.

"You began thinking, I see, which is a good start. In the mean time, had I misheard when I heard you humans have what you call "Manners"… and that they include inviting your guests into a good sitting and perhaps a treat?"

"Demons don't eat." I said, almost automatically, as if reciting information.

"That was just an expression, my dear."

"This way." I lead him to my living room.

Lucifer follows me. I've never seen a demon move so comfortably on Earth. Perhaps it was because Lucifer was a fallen angel; he was meant, by God, to live on Earth.

"What's his name?" I said once my rear touched the couch. He'd already sat… like a king on his throne. There was no doubt who ruled the situation.

"Oh, my dear son. His name is Frederique. Born to a French woman of course… his full name is Frederique Deraux. His mother was such a beautiful woman… I think she knew that something about me was not orthodox, yet she embraced the child inside her body till the day he was born."

"Who picked his name? You?"

"How do you know it wasn't her?"

"Because she died during childbirth."

He smiled. "Quite smart of you to notice. You must know, my dear, that we, greater demons, bear two kinds of children: The children for whom we have great future plans, and the children who are just the offspring of a momentary pleasure. Frederique is the second kind, but he hates it. He wants more. He wants to be the chosen son… the finishing warlock. I didn't intend it for him, nor did I intend it for any of my children yet. I plan to mess with your kind a bit longer," he said and smiled again, sending Goosebumps through my back.

"Doesn't this seem strange? Whether you intended it or not, he wants to destroy the earth. It's what you're meant for; I don't see why you'd want him stopped."

"Because I'm an old man who's seen everything until he got bored and he's waiting for one hell of a big show. Only I don't want it to be soon… I want to have the pleasure of waiting for it even longer. Like a cat that messes with a rat before it eats it. The cat knows the rat has no chance of escaping its fate and it's already hungry, yet it's having fun playing with it. I wouldn't want that kind of fun gone."

"And your deal is…"

"I know where he is. He is gathering followers of demons and rogue downworlders and even reluctant shadowhunters who are left from the old war. Go to him, find a strategy and kill him."

"You want your own son dead. Pretty low, even for demon."

"Not for Lucifer, my dear. I might call you or him or any son or daughter of mine dear, but I have no feelings. This is just a manner of speaking. I have no feelings even for my children. Only pride of a good son, or shame of a bad one."

"And what do I get back?"

"Well, two things, one more important than the other. The first and most important one, you save your kind from his endeavors."

"And the second?"

"I know how to find your parabatai," he says and smiles with no feelings. "Kill Frederique and the journey you were just going on is useless. Your parabatai will be back to you just as safe as when he disappeared. And before you ask me… no, it wasn't me who took him."

I look at him for seconds, and here we are, back to the situation we started from.

I'm offered a deal with Lucifer, but dealing with the devil is a betrayal to my kind by every law. It comes to whether I believe him or not and he might be the lord of liars, but something about the way he talked was just… scarily true. The Clave and The Covenant are the law, but they're slow… stiff. They represent the sloth of bureaucracy compared to the rush of youth. I didn't have to ask Lucifer why he'd come to me on such a matter and not to Clave members more able to stop Frederique… that was the answer. They'd never believe Lucifer, even if he was momentarily honest, and they'd act slowly and unreliably even if they did.

Does that mean I shake Lucifer's hand in agreement? I hand shook just at the idea of touching his.

I got up, and went for my phone. I texted a number.

_"Magnus, I'm sorry for being late. No, I'm not portaling tonight. Not to Idris, not anywhere. Tell Nicko my trip was cancelled and tell him goodnight for me. Thanks for attempting to help me. Xoxo Gaby"_

Lucifer still had the bad habit of eavesdropping on people's minds.

"Does that mean we have a deal, Miss Herondale?"

"Just so you know, devil, this doesn't mean we're in peace. We only have this one common goal at the moment but we're still enemies, so don't think you have me as a friend now."

"You're sure I don't, Gabriella?"

His smile sent shivers to my bones. This thing has literally no facial expressions but that feeless smile, and yet it terrifies the hell out of me.

"I'm sure, morning star." I say as I purse my lips firmly.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*


	2. Warlock Fire

So here I am, Gabriella Herondale, on a mission assigned to me by Lucifer.

This is Russia. Where else in the world would I be freezing in gear? Shadowhunter gear is designed with very rough material that keeps away cold, yet it doesn't cut it here.

Lucifer, as it turns, wanted his own son dead so badly he gave me a specific address of where to find him and his followers. It occurred to me, later, why he won't kill him by himself.

_"That's not how I do things," _said Lucifer_. "I'm the seducer of the entire humanity. When I want something done, I whisper in some human's ear to do it. Let alone that I have more important tasks than a rogue son to finish. See, dear, Hell is a difficult place to rule. I have to keep things organized, little old Azazel is not always so capable."_

This is a small village in East Russia. It is surrounded by mountains and snow. Right now it's night, the roads are freezing and people are hiding in their small wooden houses. I could smell the wood burning in the fireplaces and the warm soup they're preparing and loafs of warm bread… and I could hear their prayers. Prayers from almost every house I pass by, every window I come near. This place is so out of time, it looks like the mundane fairytales about princesses that grow in small villages or our own stories about people in small villages hiding from the banshee. I chuckle; if a banshee went rogue and tried to scare those poor villagers, I'd rid them of it in an instant. I have weapons in my backpack that could be enough for an army of shadowhunters. But this is Russia, not Scotland. People here don't believe in banshee.

Well, I hope right now they're not hiding from something because I need one of them to open the door. Unfortunately I don't speak Russian. My grandpa taught me a lot of languages but not Russian. I'll try English then Romanian and hope for good luck. I knocked the door.

A very pretty girl opened the door. She had this kind of shining red hair I see in the photos of mundane movie stars- and blue eyes. She was tall and very skinny. She was nearly my age, could be about two years younger. She wore sweat pants, a woolen scarf and a pullover. For a while there I'd thought people around here wore medieval dresses.

"Excuse me, do you speak English?" I said without getting my hopes up.

The girl gave a little smile. "Oh, yes. How can I help you?" with a heavy Russian accent.

Well thank God.

"I'm sorry to disturb you in this hour. I was just wondering which of those mountains is Santa Anna's?"

The girl stepped out of the door and stood on the porch to give me directions.

"See this one, behind the lumberjack's house? It's the one with the cut branches in front of it, of course. This is Santa Anna's."

"Thank you. I'm sorry again for bothering you." I said with an apologetic smile.

"Not to worry. But if you'll forgive my curiosity… it's just… Santa Anna's now? You could freeze to death. If there's something you need from there, why not wait till morning? It'll be a little warmer."

Normally, she had a point. But of course I couldn't tell her that attacking at night was easier, for camouflage.

"I have an appointment with a friend there. He has a house at the feet of the mountain."

"Oh, okay." She still looked worried. "I'd be careful if I were you, though. This is a very dangerous area."

"What is your name? I'm Gabriella." I smiled and gave her my hand to shake.

"I'm Roxanne." She shook my hand and smiled.

"Roxanne, I think you look more worried than you could be about just the cold." I'd guessed some things, from the way she looked speaking of the mountain. "Is there anything that is strange about the area? Did anything happen there?"

Her blue eyes widened in fear. She waited a few seconds before answering me.

"About a month ago, some children were playing there with the snow. Four children. The three of them that came back described a big wolf that bit the fourth one and, strangely, ran away without devouring him. The boy's name was Anton. When the three boys ran and reported to their fathers, they gathered a group of our people and went there to kill the wolf and save the kid. The kid wasn't found and neither was the wolf." She posed for seconds and then said, "He was my nephew."

"I'm so sorry Roxanne." I said with a concerned frown. Must be one of Frederique's rogue werewolves. Seems I have a bigger mission than the warlock.

"It's okay. See, this is not the only incident. We've been hearing howling and other strange sounds at night, about three months ago. All coming from that area. Our village and the mountains are not usually inhabited by wolves. We've also been seeing strange sparks a night… it's been really strange. I'd never go there alone, if I were you. And that friend of yours must be so courageous to live there." She said, and shivered.

"Thank you Roxanne. I'll try to find another place to stay."

"I'd offer you staying here but… my father is a little… unwelcoming. He's usually in a bad mood." Her tone was apologetic and a little cold when she mentioned her father. Ah… probably the typical drunk-and-family-beating type of mundane father.

"It's not a problem, I'll probably find an inn around."

"There's one there, behind that cabin." She pointed a direction.

"Alright, I'll head there. Thanks again, Roxanne."

"You're welcome." She gave me a warm smile before closing the door.

Of course, I still headed to my original destination. Apparently Frederique thinks it's fun to unleash his werewolves on the villagers. Tonight I'll only observe and wait for Frederique to be alone, then I'll attack him. Later I'll call reinforcements from the Clave for the rest, but first I've got to cut the serpent's head.

I was now near the lumberjack's house. The mountain behind it, Santa Anna's, looked horrifying in the dark… like a giant demon sleeping. Apparently I'm the unlucky one who'll have to wake him up. I remembered Lucifer's words. _"Santa Anna's… a small mountain… one of many that surround that village. On the other side on the mountain where mundanes wouldn't dare step in fear of the snow, my son constructed his place."_

I was at the feet of the mountain now. The path between Santa Anna's and the mountain on its left was very narrow and fully locked by snow. Mundanes wouldn't dare step here, but I'm a shadowhuntress, I have my own inner fire. I opened my backpack and put a pullover on my gear. The runes I'd received from my grandmother the day before were a lot of help… I felt power run in my veins. I drew a quietude rune on my arm then I started climbing the mountain.

After a few minutes, I was high enough to start walking sideways to the other side of the mountain. I started doing it with my back to the air and my body stuck to the rocks. The mountain wasn't difficult to climb. It must have been the mundanes' fear from the strange sounds and lights that scared them off that side of the mountain, not the snow or rocks. When I heard their sounds, I turned my head to look.

Now I can see them. At the feet of the mountain, there were trees that formed an almost complete circle. Between the trees, cabins of wood or hay were constructed, and even some tents. The area must have been under some warlock magic because there was no snow on their small homes or the grass between them. In the heart of all that a fire was lit and a group of people was there- I could here laughs, yelling, the sound of a group of friends. Such a strange sight… that wasn't what a group of people that planned for evil looked like. For a second there I thought Lucifer probably set me up and this was just a group of mundane friends camping –In this weather?- but then I watched one of them raise his hand to the sky and golden sparks shot from his fingers. A warlock. Could it be Frederique himself or maybe just another one?

Under me now, there was a prominent edge. I could see it. From the lightening on it I could tell it was the mouth of a cave. I stepped further to my right so I could be right above it and then I jumped.

Thank God the distance wasn't big. My feet hit the cave's floor soundlessly.

I lay down and watched for a while. Took some salty snack out of my backpack and a bottle of water. They looked like just a bunch of guys enjoying a fire and a dinner. Reminded me of Team Good.03. I had to remind myself that those people were actually _bad_… that they were planning to summon the realm of demons here. About half an hour later they started going to sleep one by one until the place was almost empty.

One of them got out of his tent. I couldn't identify his nature at first, but then he took a something out of his pocket and shoved it up his forearm (must be a stele). A shadowhunter. He headed to the trees alone.

I won't get a better chance. He's going to have to lead me to Frederique's place and then I'll silence them both and get out of here and get more forces to kill the others. Yes it's totally insane, but when exactly was anything about the whole situation sane?

I climbed sideways from the cave then down, and when I was close enough to the floor I jumped. My quietude rune still worked fine; I ran to the trees hiding in the shadows of the cabins with no notice.

I could see him. I held two daggers each in a hand and slid behind him. With the speed of light, his hand was caught in mine behind his back and the dagger in my right hand was on his throat.

"I'll kill you now, betrayer of your kind, if you make a sound."

He nodded in horror.

"Only speak when asked. I repeat: You scream or try to wake the others up in any way your throat will be cut now."

He nodded again.

"Where's Frederique?"

"Frederique… do you mean Kevin?" his voice was so trembling I almost felt guilty. I also recognized that he was probably younger than me.

"Frederique Deraux the son of Lucifer."

"We call him Kevin. And he is in his cabin."

"I didn't see that one coming. Where is that cabin, idiot head?"

"It's the one in the heart."

"Take me there."

"Who put you up for this? What are you going to do to Kevin?"

"That is none of your business, idiot. Now take me there or I'll slit your betraying throat."

He turned around, terrified. He looked young and innocent. What was Frederique doing here exactly?

"Walk in front of me. Get moving."

My dagger was still on the back of his neck. I couldn't help but feel bad for him. If he hasn't done what he went to those trees to do, then he probably wet his pants by now.

We entered the circle of the simply built cabins and tents. At the core, there was a wooden cabin. It was the one they lit the fire in front of. Must be a magical warlock fire, I think, because they looked unafraid it would catch in the wood or hay of the cabins.

I was lost in those thoughts when I felt a movement behind me. I turned around and there was a female vampire carrying a sword to me. There's plenty of time to observe her appearance later.

The shadowhunter boy slid away and started yelling. "Marianne! She's here to harm Kevin!"

"Wake the others!" She said in a powerful voice, unusual from vampires who usually use seductive, soft voices. Ah. The vampires, I forgot about them. Of course they're awake while everybody else isn't. "Surrender your weapons, shadowhuntress."

The kid ran off and started calling random names. I captured "Cecelia, Zochov, Sam, Kevin wake up! We're under attack! Some shadowhuntress!"

"In your dreams." I replied to her.

"You are outnumbered."

"This makes no difference to me; I don't surrender my weapon without a fight."

And I jumped at her. My dagger almost got her in the stomach, but she avoided it. Of course, this is not the way to kill a vampire, but it gives me what I want: Merely a fight, not victory.

A voice came from behind me… a strangely familiar voice, saying, "Gabriella, drop your weapon and you won't be harmed."

Strangely familiar… knows my name… who is it?

I turned to him. The last thing I saw before something hit me on the skull was a familiar face and brown hair, and then my attention was all on the hit. I knew at the same instant it wasn't strong enough to kill me, but strong enough to knock me out. So, I knocked out.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

When I woke up, I was on a bed… a surprisingly comfortable bed. I heard the voice of someone doing something beside me, but I couldn't concentrate enough to know what it was. Yet I knew who he was.

"What on earth are you doing here?" He said.

"I could ask you the same question, brother." I didn't look at him. My eyes were on the ceiling of the cabin and my voice was cold.

"Gaby, you're the one who came with a full arsenal attacking us in the middle of the night."

"Ah… there's a "You" and an "Us" now. We're on different teams. Always good to see you, parabatai."

"Gaby, this is serious. Okay?" said Sam in a calm voice. "Who sent you? Who told you where we are? Who put you up for the whole thing?"

"I could explain that with plenty of cherries on top." I noticed that my voice was still sedated. "In the mean time, I'd like to know why exactly you've left me… Left us… let us look for you and all, and winded up with the guy who wants to be the destroyer of the earth."

"Destroyer of the earth?" He said in a quizzical tone. "You know, I think each of us has the answers of the questions on the other's mind. So why don't we take turns to explain? Ladies first."

I posed. "Lucifer."

"What?"

"You asked me who told me and sent me and all this… bla. It was Lucifer. He said…"

"Wait… you came to Russia to kill Kevin –and apparently us too- because of something _Lucifer_ said? _The _Lucifer?

"And you left your parabatai, friends and family to team up with some crazy warlock who wants your planet dee-stroyed?"

"That was your turn to explain."

"And you interrupted me. Anyway, I was going on a mission. Looking for you while you were here enjoying your time and all. And then I hear some noises in my apartment and BAM, it's Mr. Lucifer standing in my bedroom asking for a friendly chat. Want to know what he said about your new me?"

"New you?"

"Apparently that Frederique's totally got you."

"Don't be silly."

"He said your boy wants to be the finishing warlock. That he'll call the realm of demons here and do all those evil things, you know, kill babies, drink the blood of kittens, slay young virgins, all that bad action movie horror."

"And you believed him." He said with a sarcastic tone.

"He seemed honest to me."

"_Lucifer_ seemed honest to you." His tone got even harsher.

"Not when you put it like that."

"Seriously, Gaby…"

"Your turn to explain."

"Oh, well, I should explain some things. Maybe the fact that Kevin –don't call him Frederique, drives him angry- is the total opposite. Maybe that he is trying to stop Lucifer from producing the finishing warlock. Maybe the fact that we're all here to help him do that."

I posed, trying to swallow what he just said.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Gaby, last summer when we thought Lucifer was there because some mundane summoned him and he went out of control, let's just say we were naïve. We were fools. Lucifer's not the demon somebody summons for a joke or even for a wish to come true."

"And?"

And a boy came in. He was probably my age or a year older, or so he looked anyway. His black hair reached to the end of his neck. His body was full of muscles and yet slender and tall. I took a second more to observe his face.

His features were perfect, like his father's, but not scary like the old man's. His nose was long and bony, his lips full, and his crystal blue eyes wide with a look of innocence and feathery eyelashes. Something about him made him look strong yet vulnerable… in need of protection. I liked boys who looked vulnerable like that because they made my female power spring as I wanted to protect them, just like some men like weak girls because they love being the protectors. And then it hit me… my grandmother used to describe my grandfather just like that: Strong and though, but beautiful and vulnerable.

"Hey, Kev," says Sam. "She's fine now, I'm talking to her."

He smiled. "Good. It's energy saving that she came to us herself. We needed her."

"I was just trying to convince her it's not _you_ the one she should kill."

"It was my father who sent her to do it, wasn't it?"

"You're guessing correctly," said Sam with a sigh.

Kevin smiled bitterly. "Infatuated with me, my old man, isn't he."

"You're Frederique." I said.

Sam gave me the "I told you not to" sort of look. Frederique seemed patient.

"Tell me, Gabriella: If a man got your mother knocked up then left and only showed at your childbirth although she really needed him, then let her die giving birth to you, and let you face your life alone only knowing that he is your father, yet never able to actually talk to him or feel like he really is, if that man gave you a name. Then came along another man… a man who loved you from the first sight and took care of you, regardless of the fact that you had black wings and your eyes turned red occasionally, that man gave you another name. Which of the two names would you prefer to be called?"

I posed. "The second."

"The first was Lucifer, Lord of Hell, and he named me Frederique Deraux, maybe to remind him of the beauty of my French mother." He said bitterly. "And the second was lord Maxwell Gray from England, and the name he gave me was Kevin Gray. I'm the son of the second, Gabriella, not the first."

I thought of what he said. Now I noticed he had a slight British accent.

"It's Gaby." I mumbled.

He smiled. "So we have a deal. I call you Gaby, you call me Kevin."

I nodded.

Sam seemed happy about the way we got along. "So, Kevin, I was just explaining to her how he lied to her, and what we're doing here, and what we're trying to prevent."

"You were explaining why Lucifer was actually in Romania last summer." I said calmly. It was Kevin who answered me.

"He was there to impregnate a woman."

Silence.

"Having one of those demon love affairs… even the old man needs a rest…"

"Not just a demon love affair, Gaby, it was serious." He took a hard breath and said, "Gaby, that child is who he plans to make the finishing warlock."

Again, silence.

I remembered his words. _"I intend to mess with your kind a little longer."_ But he is the lord of liars. He could convince me the sun goes down at 1 a.m. while looking as honest as an angel.

"When you guys arrived, it was too late. He had already met the woman, the deed was already done."

"You're trying to tell me that…"

"A woman is pregnant with the finishing warlock right now."

"But then… where's the big deal? Find her and kill it."

"Had it been that simple, do you think we'd still be here?" He asked bitterly. "Lucifer's got the woman and the child protected. Demons, rogue downworlders, shadowhunters with old grudge… anything you can imagine. We need as much forces as we can get."

"Funny… he said _you_ guys were teaming up with those fellas." I said in his same bitter tone. "And you guys here are trying to…"

"Find a way to break through those defenses and destroy the thing."

"Do you know where it is at the moment?"

"The thing and its mother are in Romania, hidden in a castle. It's the one where you found him."

"So it is in Romania, and you guys are in Russia because…"

"Childbirth is in five months and we have to collect forces from around the world. Sam is part of our forces, that's why I kidnapped him. I kidnap my desired warriors then inform them what they're into, and they have the freedom to join me or to walk away. We were coming to collect you and your other 4 friends soon, but for the beginning I just took Sam to have one of you know the truth and convince the others. This is where we stay, but we portal daily where there are notable warriors from any kind."

"And why not just tell the Clave?"

"Gaby, the Clave is infiltrated by some of Lucifer's shadowhunters. They mislead the others and misinform them about the finishing warlock. They could convince them it's me to get rid of me, and then no one will believe us."

I silenced and closed my eyes. Someone touched my shoulder tenderly. I opened my eyes expecting Sam, but Sam was standing in the middle of the room looking at me patiently. It was Kevin.

"Look… I know this is all so much to take in especially in your condition. I'll leave you now. And Sam, I know you need some time with her but if I may ask you… let her rest."

"It's okay, Kev, I think that's what she needs," said Sam as he was walking to the door. Kevin walked out first, then Sam looked at me. "Goodnight, Gaby. I know this is going to be difficult but try to rest. We'll have a conversation tomorrow."

I'm still looking at the door with my mouth wide open and my eyes narrowed. I'm tired and I'm already slipping into sleep, and there's already a lot to think about. And yet –silly me- the only picture that occupied my imagination was Kevin's face.

Yes, I'm an idiot.


	3. Black-Winged Angel

When I woke up it was still night. It terrified me to know this was another night, not the one I slept on. I must have been exhausted from staying up all night the two nights before. It took me a while to remember where I am and swallow what I heard the night before, let alone choose what to believe.

Lucifer sent me to look for a warlock who wants to be the finishing warlock. I found him and his followers and I found my parabatai who was lost- with them. My parabatai says that warlock is actually a good guy, and what he actually wants is to save the earth from the real finishing warlock that his father just impregnated a woman with. From the way that warlock talked, it seemed to me he really wasn't bad. But who am I to judge? I just believed Lucifer and tried to do a mission he assigned to me. I'm an idiot.

I tend to believe Sam. I tend to believe Kevin. And if I chose to believe Lucifer and not my parabatai then I'm an idiot anyway.

I got out of bed to realize I haven't really looked at the place I'm in last night; I was too busy looking at the ceiling to avoid looking at Sam, closing my eyes trying to believe what Sam and Kevin said or… well… contemplating Kevin.

The room was blank and clean, reminded me of the institute's rooms. The walls were wooden; I'm in one of those wooden cabins. I realized then that I slept with gear.

Ugh… I'm sweaty. I need a shower. I don't know if there are bathtubs around though. They probably clean out in some nearby lake or river if they're not all freezing. I changed to a black hoodie and jeans and got out of the cabin.

It's the cabin in the center, I realized. Kevin's place. I also realized it was only twilight, because I saw several vampires leave their tents at the same time yawning and looking like they just woke up. I walked looking for Sam or Kevin. I saw two familiar faces on the way: The boy I'd threatened yesterday and the female vampire I tried to fight. They were standing near an empty space between the tents watching a werewolf, probably in the late thirties, training a teenage girl/vampire how to carry a sword correctly.

When the boy saw me, he looked scared. The vampire woman –now I remember he called her Marianne at one point- looked at me not with animosity, but with concern. In the beginning I thought maybe I should just look at them apologetically, but then I thought apologizing in person would be better.

I approached them. The boy got closer to Marianne without thinking. Now I think he's about 15. Marianne maybe got transformed at the age of 40, and she was striking. Her eyes were pale gold and her hair was strawberry blond and her body was flawless.

"Hey." I said when I was close enough to them. Hey?

"Hello, shadowhuntress." Marianne replied with a steady, strong voice.

"I'm sorry I attacked you two the other night. Kevin or Sam probably told you… I was lied to. I was mislead to thinking you guys were doing something bad here."

The boy's eyes looked less scared, and Marianne gave me a worried smile.

"Kev did say something like that. It's okay. My name is Marianne. I'm a vampire."

"I'm Gaby. Shadowhuntress. But you know that." I said, smiling. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Then she looked at the boy in expectation, a sort of educational look.

"Oh… sorry." He said. His voice was steady, unlike last night when every single part of him was shaking including his tongue. "I'm Drake. Shadowhunter." He gave me his hand to shake.

I shook his hand. Then I frowned apologetically. "Sorry to you specially. That was mean."

He laughed. "I'm used to mean, don't worry." I laughed with him.

"So, where do you guys shower here? I need to clean out."

"Those of us who shower go to a lake behind those trees." Marianne pointed a direction.

"Isn't it supposed to be freezing from the weather?"

"Kevin and the other warlocks enchanted a big area for us to be warmer, including the lake. Also, Sam said to tell you he wants to see you when you wake up. He's out of the houses area. See, there's a yard there in the space between the houses and the trees."

"Oh… I'll go to see him." That came out a little cold. I think a part of me was still mad at Sam. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I went to the direction she pointed out. Sam was not the only one training someone in the area. I noticed every single older and better trained shadowhunter or downworlder was training someone younger. Sam was training a warlock girl with some animal's nose how to aim with a spear.

"Hey!" He yelled with a smile when he saw me. I heard him say to the girl, "Just a minute, Grace." And he came closer to me.

"Hey." I said coldly. A _big_ part of me was still mad at Sam.

"Want to be a part of the training? You'd be a trainer. We have only 10 trainers and 16 trainees, so some of them are waiting for turn."

"I would, but I need to clean out first."

He looked at me carefully.

"Are you okay?"

"Trying to be."

"Have you thought of what I told you last night?"

"Yes."

"And what did you choose to believe?"

"Had I chosen to believe differently I wouldn't have been still here, Sam." I said in a harsh tone.

He sighed. "Gaby…"

"Don't."

"Look, I didn't choose to leave you. Okay?"

"You could have said no to Kevin."

"Would you have said no? Would you have turned your back on a war like this one?"

"I would have told my friends and family I was okay and where I was going!"

"Have you?"

"What?"

"Have you told them where you were going before coming here last night?"

I blushed. "I told Magnus because he had to open the portal for me."

"But not the others."

"They think I'm in Idris visiting my parents but they know I'm okay, Sam."

"You knew I was okay, Gaby! Remember, the parabatai rune. You would have felt it had I died."

"So that left me two options: Either that you couldn't stay in touch with me or that you chose not to. And because I thought I knew you, I thought it could never be the second, and it had to be the first. So I thought you must have been somehow not okay, Sam."

"I didn't choose not to stay in touch with you, Gaby, I couldn't! We're moving in complete secrecy. The Clave doesn't know about what we're doing, nobody does."

"Lucifer does. And last night you said he had shadowhunters in the Clave. So he probably already told them."

"That's not the way he works. Kevin understands him. Lucifer wants to mess with us himself; he wants the Clave out of this. Don't you wonder why he sent _you_ to destroy us, and not just made his Clave spies send the Clave after us? Lucifer likes the play, Gaby. He'd rather watch us chase our tails than send an army after us. He sent _you _here to mess with you. To avenge his defeat."

I silenced.

"And plus, who said the plan wasn't going to evolve you? We are going to America next month to get warriors from there and you and the entire team good are on our list. Kevin started with me alone because back then, he didn't have all the forces he has now. It would have been dangerous if he kidnapped us all at once against him alone, we could have destroyed him and his only ally back then- Marianne- very easily. He got me first because he knew I'm the one with the biggest sense of comprehension and I would listen to him first."

"How would he know that anyway?"

"He was all over the world, he knows people and talks to people. He knows Magnus personally and he told him a lot about us, but Magnus doesn't know about this."

I took his words into my head.

"I need to shower."

He sighed. "Do you know where we do?"

"Yes, Marianne told me."

"Alright, but think about what I said, okay?"

"Yeah."

I went away thinking. What Sam said was convincing, but I still needed time to get over what he did. Again, after the thoughts of Sam and the whole army thing went away, thoughts of different kind occupied my mind. The face with the perfect bony features, crystal blue eyes and black hair. _Ugh… I need to stop thinking of this…_

My thoughts were cut by the sight of the lake. It was small and it was surrounded by bushes and small tress. The beautiful sight got my attention for a while, and then something else, probably more beautiful did.

"Hey." I yelled to him.

I cut off his current of thoughts… he closed the book he was reading.

"Hey, Gaby." He said with a slight smile, and then looked at me apologetically. "Don't think I always escape training and leave my work to others just because I'm the leader. It's just… today we have a mission and I'm used to reading my mother's journal before any."

"Oh, It's okay." A part of me noticed how he immediately opened up to me. It was a slight information, that he reads his dead mother's journal before going on missions, yet it was something big to confess to someone you've only met hours ago. "I've come to shower."

"Oh, I'll give you a space, then."

I felt apologetic immediately. "No, don't, I'm sorry for disturbing you, I could come back later…" Why on earth was I totally under his spell like that? That is _wrong_. God, that is wrong.

"Don't. Come on, we have a lot of places where I can read, but only one bathtub."

I smiled. "Okay. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'm happy you've changed your mind about killing me." He said and laughed lightly.

"Oh, sorry about that, I shouldn't have believed… him." I don't think he likes the mention of his father much.

"Nobody should. I think the old man literally eats living kittens for breakfast." He said, joking, but with a slightly bitter tone.

"I promise if he shows up again I'll break his nose."

"Don't do it without me." We both laughed.

"Hey, you've skipped breakfast and lunch. I'm sorry, you must be hungry. But we have dinner in an hour from now. Join us by the fire."

"Cool."

"Bye."

"Bye." He then walked to the edge of the trees where I came from. "Wait! Kevin!"

"Yes?"

"Why was I sleeping in your cabin?"

"The only fast houses to construct are the tents, and they're the vampires', because even with the magic the area is still cold enough and they're the only fellas who don't… you know. So we'll start constructing a cabin for you tonight along with the one for our new warrior but until it's prepared, you're staying in mine.

"Thank you. Please go back to it tonight, I wouldn't mind sharing beds with Sam."

A feeling of displeasure sparked in his eyes and in the pursing of his lips. What displeased him about the idea so much?

"Believe me, it's okay. Marianne and I are almost mother and son, so we don't mind sharing beds either."

"Marianne is a vampire, so she sleeps in a tent. Aren't you cold?"

He smiled. "I've got a lot of fire going on inside me so, No."

And then he left me alone. I sighed. All along, blood has been coursing in my veins crazily. My mind kept decoding every word he said… his tone… his expressions… his smile… I'm probably the only team-gooder –along with Nicko- who never felt that way, but it was still impossible not to recognize.

Oh God, please no.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

When I joined the fire, I saw the same happy friends' meal that I saw yesterday. The vampires were drinking from bags of blood –animal blood, I reckon- and the werewolves were eating meat, as usual, some even raw. The others were just eating normal things.

I sat down between Sam and the werewolf I saw training a girl this morning. I said nothing to Sam, but at least I didn't regard him coldly.

"Hello." I said to the werewolf.

"Hello." He replied in an eastern European accent. "My name is Zochov. Werewolf."

"I'm Gaby, shadowhuntress."

"An honor to meet you. I believe I saw you this morning while I was training Luci."

Ah… the training. I felt guilty that I spent the entire hour at the lake thinking of… someone. Training seemed to be their thing here… their main thing at the moment and I shouldn't stay without being a part of it.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from Bulgaria. You?"

"America."

"I was there for a while, I'm friends with some good packs. Are you acquainted with anyone from the Praetor Lupus?"

"Actually a friend of mine and her father are Praetors. They're very good people, I respect their goals."

"They saved my life once. Got in a fight in a downworlder bar with some vampires, I was outnumbered, a praetor was there and he got the problem solved."

Zochov seemed like a nice guy. I talked to him and to Sam, sometimes, while eating barbequed chicken. It was a nice meal for a group of people creating an army to fight Lucifer. Kevin joined us later.

"Sorry I'm late, guys."

Marianne yelled at him to sit next to her. He took a place between her and Drake. Kevin joked with Drake like an older brother. I remembered what Kevin said about him and Marianne being like mother and son and Marianne standing for Kevin and Drake last night. I smiled. Despite the fact that they're from different species, people here seem to have formed a family.

"Stop looking at Kevin."

"What?" I turned to Sam with half a mind.

He was whispering. "If he catches you, it'll be awkward. Let him come first."

I sighed. Was I blushing? That would be terrifying. _Please don't blush._

"Shut up, Sam."

"I must say I'm fascinated. It was only yesterday, Gab." He was smiling cunningly.

"Ugh… Sam, stop."

"Okay. Just don't make the first move. He should. And I'm not being anti-feminist, it's just because he's the older one."

"How old is he?" I said curiously, then regretted it. Sam's smile widened in comprehension.

"He was born in the 1940s in France."

Why did I assume, all along, that he was actually as old as he looked? This was a stupid assumption; he's a warlock. Yet the knowledge fascinated me.

"Anyway, stop looking at him like that. Somebody else will notice and they might tell him."

"Okay." I found it no use to lie to Sam any longer. He's my parabatai; he's the male version of me.

"Alright, people, it's time." That was Kevin. "Who's coming with me this time?"

Sam got up, and so did Zochov and Marianne, the warlock girl Sam was training this morning and a werewolf I once heard Zochov call Cecelia. I got up. I wanted to follow them… follow _him_… wherever they were going.

"No, it's too early for you, Gaby, I'm sorry." Said Kevin.

"I defeated the lord of hell last summer, Kevin Gray, I don't need training."

"Not for the training. Just stay and find someone who went on a mission before and tell them to tell you how it works. You can come on our next mission, I promise."

I still wasn't fully comfortable. I noticed Sam regard me comprehensively.

"Look, I always make sure nothing happens to him. He's my brother now, just like you." He whispered to me while Kevin was talking to Zochov.

I felt guilty. "I'm not only worried for him, you know. You too take care, okay?"

"I always do."

"I went to a mission before, you know," said Drake. I haven't paid attention to the fact that he was standing close. "I can tell you how they do it."

"They took you? You're only like 15, you're still a trainee."

"So is Grace. They take one trainee at a time, though, as a part of their training."

I frowned. "Are you comfortable with the fact that you're involved with an army that will stand against Lucifer? You still have a full life to live, you know."

He smiled. "I thought you'd understand that better than anybody. We're shadowhunters. We were born for this, prepared for it. That's our purpose even if we'll die for it. Tell me, when you were my age, weren't you in the battlefield already?"

I posed. "Yes. Yes, I was."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Most of the people I knew had left. Only Drake was here. He was such a nice boy, and he taught me how they kidnap a desired warrior. At one point of the conversation, he said something about hiding in the cabins.

"Why that?"

"Because tonight the moon is going to be full. We have to leave the space for the werewolves. We usually hide in groups in the bigger cabins, the wooden ones, and one of the warlocks places protecting spells on them so that the werewolves can't open them and bite us."

It reminded me of something Roxanne said.

"Tell me, Drake, did an incident happen here before where a werewolf got past the mountain wall and bit a child from the village?"

"Yes, unfortunately, last month, by a young trainee named Juan. The boy –Anton- is very young, he's 13. We've kept him with us because the odds say he's transforming tonight… we can't return him to them, he'd bite more people. We've informed him of what he's becoming and all."

"That's terrible."

"Yes it is."

"How is he dealing with the entire situation? Is he a trainee now?"

"He was shocked in the first two or three weeks… but he's starting to live with it. He likes the sense of adventure we all feel."

I sighed. "And hasn't Kevin taken any precautions against this happening again?"

"He always makes sure at least one of the older werewolves, the trained ones, is there to control the situation."

"But how have some werewolves gone with Kevin on the mission if they're going to transform tonight?" My stomach pounded for Sam… and Kevin.

"The werewolves who went today are all older ones, they can control their temper when they're in wolf forms."

I felt like changing the subject.

"Who's going to organize the hiding? Who's the leader when Kevin's not here?"

"After Kevin it's Marianne then Sam then Zochov. Tonight they're all not here. We follow the order of joining, you know. Marianne joined Kevin first because she knew him long ago. Then, together, they got Sam. Then they got Zochov from Bulgaria."

"So, who comes after them in the order of leadership?"

"Nozomi. He's a shadowhunter. Japanese, as you may have guessed."

Minutes later, Nozomi got up and divided the non-werewolves to three equal groups each of them in one of the biggest of cabins: Kevin's, Sam's and Zochov's. A warlock girl, about 16 or 17 named Lorelei, performed protecting spells on the cabins.

The total number of people in the alliance, with me now, is 27. 6 of them were werewolves. 2 of them on the mission and four out there. So this leaves 21 non-werewolves. 3 of them were on the mission. This leaves 18, each six in one of the three cabins.

Six shadowhunters, warlocks and vampires in one cabin. The arrangement was done so that people could sleep, but also make sure there's a big number in each group so in case the spells break a big number of warriors is there in defense.

I lay down on the floor in Kevin's. My group included Nozomi, Drake and Lorelei and two others, a vampire and a warlock. We gave the bed to Drake and Lorelei since they were the youngest. The warlock, Nozomi and I slept on the floor and the vampire stayed awake and watched. I tried to ignore the howling and running and slept.

Kevin's face occupied my dreams again. In some of them he was an angel, only he flew with black wings. In another I got really close to him and then his eyes went red.

And then I woke up when someone shook me.

"Wake up." It was the vampire. He's already woken Nozomi, Drake and Lorelei.

"What happened?" My voice was sleepy, but it only took me a second to get terrified. _Something must have happened._ What a smart remark.

"Anton bit someone from the village."

"And Yersin couldn't do anything?" That was Lorelei. Yersin must be the older werewolf who accompanied them.

"He ran after him, but the boy was too fast. It's his first time, he was terrified."

"Who's taking care of it right now?"

"Kevin and the others. They returned from the mission with the new warrior."

"Let's go and see…"

"I can't. I'm sorry, Drake, it's almost dawn."

I left the cabin with the group. Outside, there was another group of people.

The vampires had hidden from the rising sun. The warlocks were taking care of the protecting spells or the portal. A red headed boy was crying on Sam's shoulder… probably Anton. And in the center, a body lay. Kevin, Cecelia and Zochov surrounded it. Kevin was whispering that she's going to be okay. Zochov was holding the girl's hand. Her right shoulder was bloodied.

Shiny red hair… blue eyes… a beautiful body…

Roxanne.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*


	4. Full Moon

"How was your sleep?"

"Full of nightmares."

"I'm sorry."

"Do you know what happened to Roxanne?"

"Kevin took care of her injuries, but of course her odds aren't high."

"She'll die?" I said in a terrified voice.

"Don't be silly, Gab, she'll transform. Next month."

"Did any of you actually sit with her and talk to her about what's going to happen?"

"Not till now, no. And you know I'm probably not the best guy to."

Sam was right. The first and only time Sam had to break it out to someone about their transformation it was Jake. Sam ended up with an iratze.

"Who do you think should?"

"Probably Kevin because she met him yesterday. And you, because you know her. At least better than any of us does. I was thinking Marianne but she can't go anywhere because of the sun."

"Yes, I think you're right. Alright, I'll go now if she's awake."

"Zochov says she just woke up. She slept in my cabin."

"Then see you in a few."

"See you."

I walked, lazily, to Sam's cabin. What happened anyway? Why was she close to the mountains, or out of her house in that hour at all? She knew something strange was happening in the area. She warned me. I didn't know what to say to her.

By the door, I met Kevin. He hadn't gone in there yet.

"Hey."

"Hi." He replied to me in a distressed voice. "Are you here to talk to her?"

"Yes… I've met her earlier, you know. She's the one who guided me to the mountain."

"I need to explain some things to her too. You mind if we do this together?"

_Together._ I felt I was blushing. _Please don't blush…_

"Of course. I mean no, I don't mind."

"Okay. But we'll have to try to calm her down, okay?"

"Yes."

Kevin knocked the door and looked down waiting for an answer.

"I'm unable to get out of bed so there's no chance of me undressing… so, yes, you can come in." I heard Roxanne's voice and accent from inside the cabin. Kevin gave a small one-sided smile to the joke. I tried to stare away from it and to _stop blushing_.

We opened the door and got in.

Roxanne was in bed looking at the ceiling. Her sight reminded me of myself the first night I got here and I thought Sam had betrayed me and I was mad at everything but also tired. It seemed ages since that night… ages enough for me to develop a crush on Kevin. I'm silly and stupid and acting like a teenager, I know.

"I'm turning into a werewolf, aren't I?"

We paused. Kevin broke the silence. "Did Zochov tell you something…"

"Doesn't need to, I'm not an idiot. You know, we have our legends about this."

""We" as in "Mundanes" or "We" as in "People in this area"?"

"Mundanes? Tell me… is that a word you've invented for "ordinary people"?"

"Not invented, no. It has existed since… ever."

She paused. "Thank you for healing my injuries yesterday. I don't know how you did but… thank you anyway."

"No problem. Also I'm accompanied by someone you may want to see."

She finally looked at us.

"Gabriella." She whispered.

"Roxanne." I replied.

Kevin looked from one of us to the other. I could see him with the corner of my eye… and the rest of my sight was on Roxanne.

"I'll leave you two alone. When you're finished, Gaby, I'll come in." He went out without saying anything else.

"Roxanne… what happened?"

She silenced for a moment.

"You."

"What?"

"I went to the inn in the morning to see if you got there. They said nobody did. I realized you must have headed to your original destination. I went near the mountains to look for that house you said your friend owned… there was none. There were no traces of you anywhere around the village. When that wolf attacked me last night I was still searching."

"Roxanne you knew the area was dangerous! You knew what happened with the wolves and the other strange things, you shouldn't have stayed there till night! Look… thank you for caring about my wellbeing and for trying to find me or save me from whatever it is you thought had happened to me but didn't you think of your own safety?"

"What is all of this? Yesterday this huge wolf bites me, a bigger group of wolves takes me here and I'm surrounded by this strange group of tattooed people and those people who have animal eyes or ears or green skins and then there's this model-looking guy who made my wounds disappear by doing strange things with his fingers, and then the wolves transformed into men."

I said nothing.

"And of course, from watching all those horror movies and all our urban legends, I know what it means when one of those wolf/men bites you. You become like them."

"Roxanne, listen to me."

"I'm all ears."

"The world that you know is much smaller than the one that actually exists. All those ordinary people… they're only half of the humans out there. There are those pure humans that you know and there are the humans that are half breeds… or infected by demon sicknesses."

I explained everything to her. That demons exist, that angels exist… I explained to her about the Nephilim and the downworlders of all four kinds.

"Do you believe me?"

"Do you think I presume not to after all I saw?"

I silenced.

"So I'm becoming one of those. Those… downworlders."

I nodded. "A werewolf. Out of all downworlder species, they're the closest to humans because they age and die."

"They're also the only ones who involuntarily transform into wolf form every full moon."

I swallowed. "Consider them still luckier than vampires, as to say. Those can't get out in the sun or feed on anything but blood."

"Yuck. So why are you guys here? You just told me you guys can live in big cities and you even have your own country. You don't have to hide behind mountains often, do you?"

"I believe this is the part Kevin has to explain to you."

"Kevin is the model-looking wizard."

"Warlock. And as for model-looking… well, I couldn't disagree with you."

She eyed me for a second.

"You like this guy." She said. Is it just me or is there a slight edge to her voice?

"I don't know…" I said because I couldn't just lie to her and say a final "No".

Her regard became even bitterer. Could she have a crush on Kevin too? Well there's calling him "Model-looking" which is absolutely true to anybody and by any measures, and then there's this.

"I'm going to call him, okay? Bye."

"Bye."

I went out. Kevin was a few feet far the door with a patient look on his face. I assume he wanted to give us our space but at the same time make sure he was close.

"What does she know now?"

"I explained to her, without huge detail, about the whole "hidden world" thing. About the Nephilim and the species of downworlders…. The angels and the demons… but when she started to wonder what we're doing here exactly, I told her that was your part to explain. Also I forgot to tell her that the one who bit her is Anton, her nephew. I'm sorry you'll have to tell her that."

"I'll find a way." He paused, but looked like he still wanted to say something to me.

"We have to leave here." He said with sadness in his voice. "We've already caused those poor villagers enough pain. A family has lost two of its children already and I'd hate to let them lose more. We have to settle in a place less inhabited by humans." His voice was so full of grief it was strange.

"You actually care."

"Excuse me?"

"You're actually concerned about those mundanes. You care about their loss and pain." My tone was confused.

Kevin looked at me. Something seemed to burn deep inside his crystal eyes. His own pain, this time. It burned me like fire.

"Well, the thing is, Gabriella, if I did not care, then there wouldn't be much difference between me and my father, would there?"

I paused. "Gaby."

"And I'm Kevin Gray, nice meeting you."

It took me a moment to realize what happened. I've hurt him. I've said words that implied I expected him to be a younger version of his father. Why I actually said them will remain a mystery to me, but most certainly not because I thought he was like his father. He'd already opened the cabin's door and turned his face on me when I'd realized my mistake.

"Kevin! Wait, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

But I was silenced by the look in his eyes. For a fraction of a second his eyes sparkled red like I saw some cats' do in certain sorts of lightening. And then all I saw in it was pain, and then the door was closed in my face.

"Kevin," I whispered, not knowing what to expect.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Later that day and after sunset so the vampires could come to our meeting, Kevin gathered all of us to tell us we're moving to a place with less mundanes. This left us three options: Freezing areas, deserted areas or the wilds. We all preferred the wilds because the plants would give us better covering and it'd be easier to get food there, for every single specie.

Kevin never looked me in the eye while talking. His eyes just skipped me every time they came near me.

I don't know what I'd expected from all this. I like Kevin. So what? A guy like him would never like a girl like me. Guys so glamorous always like girls who are just as glamorous… like Moon or May or Roxanne. I'm not pretty. The only thing glamorous about me is my strength, and let's face it, in this world guys don't like girls because of their strength.

I didn't have a flawless body or perfect features. I'm not in perfect shape and I'm taller than most boys –I'm not taller than Kevin, but I'm certainly too tall to be considered cute by the usual measures-. My features were not ugly- simply ordinary. My long black hair carelessly fell on my back most of the time; so I wouldn't have expected Kevin to merely notice me. I'd only hoped that we'd be on good terms… that I'd be able to just enjoy talking to him and looking at him. Any time I liked a boy I knew he was something nice to look at, but that's all: I'll be the strong, smart, single demon huntress that I am my whole life and his existence will be a nice memory to recall, and I would be happy like that knowing that I'm doing more good to humanity than just producing children. I know this is true even now, even with Kevin around. But still… the idea that I will never have Kevin by my side was excruciating. Kevin is different than any other boy I've met.

We planned to pack during that night and the day and the following day we'd portal after sunset, again for the vampires.

Sam and I packed together and shared our usual chatter. We only avoided the subject of Kevin and it seemed to me that Sam knew something was not okay. Sam understands me from a single look into my eyes, but could Kevin have said something?

The next day, after sunset, Kevin still totally avoiding me, we left through a portal he opened. We arrived at the Amazon rainforests. The huge jungle didn't surprise me; I'd been there before demon hunting with Team Good.03, what blew me away was Kevin's warlock power. With a little help from the other warlocks, he reconstructed the vampires' tents and also some of our cabins. I shouldn't have been so surprised by his power for he's the son of the most powerful of all demons, yet it impressed me. After finishing his work, nearly at dawn, he went away into the trees. He should be tired and in need of sleep, yet he didn't head to a cabin right away. I followed him.

When I found him, he was sitting at the trunk of a giant tree. I think this jungle is dangerous, it is full of carnivores, yet he didn't seem to care.

"Kevin?"

He turned to me. "Gaby."

I walked and stood in front of him.

"Sorry you probably want to be alone, I promise I'll leave you. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I never meant to say you're like your father, I know you're not. The thing is… I also don't know you that well either."

He smiled. "Will you sit down, please?"

Why does he want me to sit down, why would he want to talk to me more? Anyway I sat.

"I'm sorry, too. I overreacted. The truth is… like you said, we don't even know each other that well so it's normal that you make assumptions."

I silenced.

"Ask me a question." He said suddenly.

"What was that?"

"Ask me something, I'll ask you too. But you know, ladies first."

Hmmmm…

"Tell me about your life after your birth. Your beginnings help me understand what came after."

There was a little pain in his eyes. I regretted asking the question, but it was too late to apologize.

"I was born in France 1941. My mother's name was Christine. I later knew I inherited her eye color and my father's everything else." He said bitterly. "Anyway… the first years of my life were in a French orphanage. But you know about the physical anomalies of warlocks… they must have wanted to get rid of me fast, or maybe considered giving me to some laboratory for a good sum of money. That was when Lord Morgan Gray, an English Lord who lived in France knew about me by chance while donating to the orphanage. He took me."

He paused.

"The best years of my life are the ones I lived with him. He ignored my strangeness and loved me like a son, for he wasn't able to have any and his wife had died. On the contrary, he taught me how to live with my anomalies, how to hide them and be normal. 14 years after he adopted me, he died. He left me a fortune, but you know a warlock doesn't need one to live. I donated most of it and started travelling around the world. I learned of what I really am, made friends… some of them Nephilim, some downworlders… but I could never stay away from my father's plans. You know only 5 sons of Lucifer are alive now, right? We're the most powerful of warlocks, of course. So he wanted all of us on his plan, protecting his finishing son. Three of us have joined him and there's only me and another out of it. I don't know if that brother of mine has made any move against our dear father, but he –my father- knows, for sure, that I am. And he wants me dead for it."

I was still silence.

"That's all. It's also my turn to ask, if you don't mind."

I worked on my tongue a little bit to be able to talk again and sound normal.

"Of course, I don't."

"Why Gaby?"

"What?"

"Why the name Gaby, and not Gabriella? Although Gabriella is a very beautiful name. And Gaby too, but I want to know why."

I paused to think of a way to tell him the answer to that.

"For the same reason you're Kevin and not Frederique."

"What, Lucifer chose the name Gabriella? Seriously Gaby it's not half that bad."

I laughed. "No, my parents did. I believe it was mum because the name is a little French."

"Your mother is French too?"

"She's originally Penhallow, that's a French family in origins. Anyway, my parents did, and then my grandpa thought it was too difficult. What he said specifically was "Sounds like the name of a silly mundane female magazine and I hate them" and then he pretended he didn't hear me when I asked him when exactly it was that he read a mundane female magazine, but I kept searching the institute for a week for a cover of Marie Claire or something. Anyway he then started calling me Gaby while training me, and then everybody started to. I think the concept of being one's parents and having the exclusive perk of choosing their name doesn't only come from the fact that you bore them, but more from the fact that you raised them, were with them, watched their first steps and heard their first words… I'm proud of my parents and of what they're doing in Idris and what they do for our kind and I love them, but it's my grandparents who did all of that, not them. They were there only the first few years, after that it was all Clary and Jace."

"Are you sure you grandpa doesn't own some covers of Marie Claire somewhere though because from all that Magnus told me about him…" We laughed together.

"It's your turn to ask."

"What is your warlock sign? Because you told me that the first time we've met, but I had just been struck on the head so…"

He thought for a second then got up and faced me… and suddenly took his shirt off.

_I'm not staring. I'm not staring. I'm not staring at his perfect, muscled, pale white, smooth chest and arms. I'M NOT STARING._

And then he turned around. I gushed.

Under his shirt, all along, there were big black wings. The kind of ashen, pure black that gave the impression of sparkling like soft black hair, not to mention that it _was_ soft and feathery.

"Wow." That's all that came out of my mouth.

I know, it's strange. But over the first ten years of my childhood I'd learned a way to keep them perfectly hidden under my clothes, as if they don't exist.

"You shouldn't." I whispered.

He looked at me in confusion.

I got up. I wanted to touch them so badly. As I got closer to him a sort of discomfort… of tension… appeared in his eyes and the steadiness of his body. But I didn't care. All I cared about then was one thing.

I was only standing about 10 inches away from him. I reached with my hand to his back and touched the wings. My fingers trembled at the touch of the soft, warm feather.

"They're very beautiful."

He tried to start a different conversation. "Crow is one of the animals that represent my father, you know. So, he casually leaves signs from crows on his sons."

"I dreamed of them, you know." I was whispering. Then I blushed. Who is this bold creature using my tongue to speak right now? This wasn't me, Gaby Herondale, who never knew what to say around men and who'd rather have her feet cut away than tell a guy about her feelings. I felt sedated, and I felt as if my tongue was moving all on its own.

He looked even more confused.

"You dreamed of my black wings."

"No. I dreamed of you using them to fly." Did I just tell him that I dreamed of him?

He was silent. Was he blushing? No, it must be something about the lightening.

"I dreamed of you too." He whispered. "I know it's been only 3 days that we've met, but I don't even need to check my feelings about you twice, Gaby, because I've never felt them for another woman. This is new to me, but at the same time I'm terrifyingly certain about it. Do you get me?" No, he was definitely blushing.

"More than you think."

I didn't care for the fact that this made no sense. That, like I said earlier, it's completely abnormal for guys like him to like girls like me. The only thing that mattered was the words I wanted to say to him and the one thing I wanted to do.

"A black-winged angel. You're a black-winged angel. I think my subconscious was trying to tell me." I was whispering.

"An angel born to the darkest, most mischievous of demons?"

"A fallen angel." I corrected him. "Demons can't love, Kevin. But most importantly they can't be so much loved, either. And I love you."

I don't think it's necessary to say it was the first time of my life I said it to anybody. Like, _anybody_. Even my friends and family… I only expressed my love to them verbally.

With my hand still on his beautiful, dark wing, and my other hand touching his wrist, my eyes staring to the depth of his crystal eyes…I went even closer till our lips collided.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"Sam, please stop asking me this."

"Oh, come on, Gab…"

"I told you! It's the first time he ever felt that way towards a girl, don't you think it's a strange coincidence that it's also me?"

Sam and I were walking the forest, the following day. We made sure we left traces in our way.

"What's so strange about someone liking you?"

"Let me think. Perhaps that someone likes me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm not exactly the girl who's everybody's dream faerie, Sam! Come on, Kevin looks like an angel and I'm just… me."

"You don't even see yourself clearly. You're beautiful, Gaby."

"Okay, maybe beautiful enough for your casual New York mundane who likes the heavily tattooed girl with the black hair who looks dark and mysterious, but for a guy like Kevin?"

"You just said it, he's just a guy and he has feelings! I don't see where your point comes from, Gaby."

Maybe I should just stop fighting Sam, start considering his point of view and just be happy with Kevin?

"Come on, Gab, you got a hot warlock to kiss you and say he likes you three days after you guys met, and you like him too, so why just try to pretend it's not awesome? Why try to ruin it with suspicion?"

Okay, he definitely made a point. Kevin doesn't seem to me like a liar or the guy who plays around girls.

Suddenly, we heard a movement in the bushes ahead.

"What's this?"

"Could be a tiger or a wild pig or something. Got a blade?"

"Nope."

I sighed. Sam was too optimistic. "Here, I've got two daggers." I handed him a Herondale dagger from my belt and held the other.

Something about the movement felt human. I said, just in case, "Who is it?"

The movement came towards us. Now I can see, from the way higher branches and bushes than the height of an animal moved, that it was human. A really tall human. What would a mundane be doing here? Some tribes still live in the jungle, but certainly far from here…

Now that the movement got so close I knew whoever was moving would jump at us out of the bushes, I held the dagger stronger and higher. Sam did just the same.

The man jumped from the bushes holding a seraph blade.

His appearance reminded me, always has, of this old mundane movie actor I once saw in a sort of movies they call Western. He's the kind of man who freshens up and looks even dreamier by the age. He's the man I certainly think every girl from his generation he's ever met –well, maybe except his adoptive sister- has developed a crush on. The golden hair covering his head… the golden eyes I've inherited from him…

He looked at us, stunned too, for a moment, and then his natural sass took the place of everything else.

"Oh good morning there, children. Would you like to tell me what exactly you're doing in the middle of the Amazon rainforest because you don't exactly seem on vacation."

I sighed. The time of telling both stories will come later, but right now all I think about is how he _never_ changes.

"Hello, grandpa."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*


	5. Deathless Fears

"Uncle Jonathan, come on!"

"Samuel Blackthorn, you know there are two things in the world I hate being called: Uncle and Jonathan. Okay, also some profanities but those are…"

"Grandpa just tell us what you were doing already!" I yelled.

It was strange enough. Not only I'm on a deadly mission with a strange group of people in the middle of the Amazon rainforests, but my grandfather, who's supposed to be missing three years ago and thought to be probably dead, appears out of nowhere. And because I know my grandfather, I know he was able to reach us all along, also since he's wandering on his own right now, which indicates he wasn't a prisoner even. He could have come back, he could have contacted us, assured us he was okay, but he didn't. Nothing in the world could describe my disappointment.

"Take it easy, Gaby," said Kevin.

"No, Kev, you don't understand! This man-" I pointed at my grandfather "has let all of us down! Me, my grandmother, his friends and mine… we live together in New York like a family because for obvious reasons, most of us lack one. When he disappeared, it was like losing a family member. You don't even know what's happening to my grandmother, or how she's feeling because of it." I saw my grandfather flinch with the corner of my eyes which were concentrated on Kevin. "Turns out he's been wandering around, capable of at least telling us he's okay, but choosing not to. So, no, I can't take it easy Kevin, unless he has a really good explanation."

My outrage has silenced everybody. I turned to my grandfather. In the beginning his eyes were blank, then they became defensive.

"I'm listening."

He sighed. "Do you really think I chose to leave you all because I missed some kind of adventure, Gabriella? After knowing me for all those years?"

I backed away. Grandpa that I know wouldn't.

"After the story about the finishing warlock appeared, I never stopped investigating. You know the Clave, it's infiltrated by Lucifer's people and even if it wasn't, I simply don't trust their IQ."

"What's IQ?" said Kevin.

"I'll explain later." I replied, and then turned to my grandfather, waiting for the rest of his explanation.

"I left to investigate, and cut every connection I had with you, with my family, for your own good. I was investigating Lucifer, Gabriella, you must understand. Study his history to learn of his ways. He would have targeted you… targeted anyone and everyone I love to stop me."

"You should have taken us with you. If not us then at least Clary? Isabelle? Do you have the least idea about how angry Alec will be to know that you, his parabatai, have been out on the road fighting without him?"

"I couldn't risk it! I couldn't risk any of you!"

"And it runs in your blood, doesn't it? This whole hero thing? We're shadowhunters too, you know, grandpa. If we die in battle it's what we were born for. If we die searching investigating a demon's plan to destroy the earth, it's our mandate. But it runs in your blood to prevent anyone else but yourself from facing danger, even if they're born for it."

"You should know too," He said carefully. "The blood that runs in my veins runs in yours, Gaby. We're Herondales. It has been running in our blood since, probably, the first of the bloodline."

"What Gaby is trying to say," Sam paused. Grandpa said he hated it when someone called him uncle Jonathan, but Sam simply wasn't used to calling a man so old by his name. "…Jace, it that she, your wife, your sister and brother, and all of us in fact, were looking for you like mad. We had to face the fact that you were simply gone. It disappoints us so deeply to know that it was your choice, that you could have alarmed us in any way that you were alive. And I think what she's trying to ask you for…" Sam swallowed. "Is that you admit to your mistake and apologize."

Yes, Sam understands me perfectly. An apology might be something simple that I wouldn't accept of any other man, but to my grandfather, having to apologize is a disaster. Jace Herondale will never admit to the fact that he has wrung.

"I'm never going to."

"Well it's the only way I'll forgive you, grandpa. You have my rage to bear in mind, but that's probably the slightest of them. Perhaps it could help you even better with the rest of the people you've abandoned; your wife, your parabatai, your sister… if you just apologized and admitted to being wrong."

My grandfather sat in silence for a moment. He must have been imagining it: The way his relatives and friends were, they'd give him no mercy for it. Clary will be more than furious. Isabelle might strangle him. Alec is… his parabatai. He will _never_ forgive grandpa going to battle without him.

"Alright…" he sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Apology taken." I turned towards Kevin. "What shall we do now?"

Kevin understood my question perfectly. 'What shall we do with him?' but if I had asked it in that way, made grandpa feel as if he's a captive or a prisoner or as if he has no choice, he'll be furious. "He'll join us if he wants."

"Who does that 'Us' stand for? What exactly is happening here?" He wondered, a little bothered that he didn't know.

"We're doing the same you went to do. We know Lucifer's plan and where he hides the woman and her… child. We're gathering as much forces as we can, for he's got an army." Kevin answered him.

"And who are you?"

"Kevin Grey. I'm a warlock."

"A warlock… born to just your casual womanizing demon, or…"

How did he manage to capture it? Did the great power he inherited from his father shine in an aura around him? Has my grandfather met Lucifer… seen the resemblance? Kevin was silent for a long instant… and then he calmly replied, "No, I'm the son of Lucifer."

"I see. And you're making such a movement against your own father because…"

"The same reasons your friend Magnus Bane doesn't spend his time deviling around and planning to destroy the world."

My grandfather took a moment to reply. "You know Magnus… but of course, all of you, warlocks, know each other. Specially you, sons of the princes of hell… You must find someone similar to share eternity with, someone who understood…"

I shuddered. The thought hadn't occurred to me yet. I'll _never_ be that for Kevin. _Never_. If life took the course of action in my head… if we got together, lived together, we won't die together. I'll always be a girl he lived with for a while… a while, no matter how long, incomparable to the length of his endless life.

"You know immortality so well."

"I just know immortal people. One might think they must be happy, to never know death, to see the world as it changes and always be a part of it… but they don't know. I see it in their eyes: They know everyone they love is mortal and one day it'll be goodbye. We, the mortals, are lucky; to know that no matter how long we are separated from our beloved ones by death, it won't be for long. The immortals, however, can't even hope for a reunion."

Kevin stiffened. He looked around. The ones he looked at were the mortals; the ones he'll say goodbye to, one day: Sam, Zochov, Drake… me.

I looked at grandpa, just to avoid seeing that burning look in Kevin's eyes. I hated his pain, and hated more the fact that I couldn't give him solace. Grandpa was looking at Kevin. Then from Kevin to me. His eyes narrowed.

"No. Stay away from my girl, warlock."

"Excuse me?" Kevin said, distracted, and I was yelling "_GRANDPA_!" in the same instant.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

In the night union, by the fire, most of us were there. The vampires had gone hunting. Only Roxanne was refusing to get out of her tent.

At the fire, I sat between Sam and grandpa. His gazes had finally stopped wandering between Kevin and I. I was silent, but I couldn't help but feel how awkward that silence was. I hated being vulnerable like that, specially in the eyes of grandpa, the man who taught me the art of toughness. But he was in love one day… he IS in love now… with Clary. Enough to understand. It was adorable, though, observing the slight edge in his voice or the bitterness in his looks towards Kevin now. How protective of me he was.

Sam finally started the serious conversation that hung in the air above us.

"So, what's next, Kevin?"

Kevin had been sitting across from us, regarding me shyly occasionally, but chattering lightly with Marianne. Now he regarded the rest of us with formal attention, as if saying, _"Now the games are over and this is the real meeting starting, people"._

"Our next goal is your friends in New York. As much fighters from New York as we can get. The rest of the group that defeated Lucifer last year, the Lightwoods, Magnus Bane, Clarissa Herondale, Simon Lewis, the Kyles… everyone that we can get. We're travelling to New York tomorrow and we're trying to be fast, so it'll be one stop at each place."

"I know some other fighters from New York," said Grandpa, his tone professional. "Didn't Magnus tell you any more names?"

"I think he mentioned that Theresa and James Carstairs were in New York, back when I asked him. They're never in one place for long, though, so I don't know if they're still there, and I want them with us."

"I bet Magnus knows their whereabouts all the time, just ask him and he'll tell."

"And their children?"

"Last I met James he said his son was in London. I don't know about the two daughters."

"Is this _really_ the entire New York conclave? Only about 15 fighters half of them downworlders?"

Grandpa smiled. "Not really, but you don't _want_ the entire conclave. They're either kids or stupid."

"You know them all?"

"I run the institute, of course I know them all."

"We need to get the good ones tomorrow. Those of them you know. All of them."

I replied, "You mean the rest of our team? Nicko, Moon, Jake, May and the old ones?"

"Wait until Isabelle hears you called her an old one…" grandpa muttered. Sam smiled.

"Yes. And ask Magnus about the Carstairs and their children. Is this everyone we should be requiring?" Kevin's eyes darted to grandpa.

"The only ones I can tell for sure will be faithful to you. The others are, like I said, way too young or way too stupid Nephilim, or downworlders whose faiths can't be guaranteed. We trust them not to break the law, but I wouldn't take trusting, say, Raphael Santiago, to trusting him with such a mission."

"Alright. Who's going tomorrow?"

"Sam and I." I said in a final tone.

Kevin looked pleased. "I guess that'll be best for everyone."

"And I'm in," Grandpa said.

"No, grandpa, you're not."

"Why not?"

Sam replied in my stead. "Because it won't do you, nor will it do anyone, any good that your family finds you suddenly knocking their doors all like, 'Hello guys missed you how about an adventure?' We'll tell them first, calmly, and then they arrive here and meet you."

He seemed convinced, but still he hated being left behind. He looked displeased.

"I'll go," said Anton, the werewolf trainee.

"I think that'll be good. Anton, Gaby, Sam and I. The people we're recruiting already know Sam and Gaby and we're going to approach them in a friendly manner. We'll need no fight," said Kevin calmly.

"And we'll have to go at night. We have two vampires we want in our lines, only one of which is a daylighter."

"We're also going to have to split," said Sam. "You and Gabriella can go talk to the Lightwoods and Clary at the institute. Anton and I can talk to all our downworlders, including Magnus."

Kevin and I on a mission in New York… _alone_…

"Yes, that will do." I'm not sure if the same thought occupied Kevin's mind. It's probably going to be the first time we're alone since we kissed at the river. And then we all became occupied with adapting to the new place, Kevin's been instructing everyone on how to survive here, seems to me he's been here before…

…and with Roxanne's case. Ugh, I'm an idiot. I totally forgot about her. And, being the one who met her before, I should be visiting her more than anyone. I asked for the excuse to go and see her.

I walked to Roxanne's tent unhurriedly. I don't know how to deal with people I should be grateful to, or guilty about. Roxanne was in the zone of the mountains, too far for her own safety, because of me. And it's because of me that she got bitten.

I stood by the door and asked for permission to get in. "You may," was all she said.

I went in. "Hello, Roxanne."

"Hi," She said in a surprisingly nice tone. Her voice, though, was tired.

A sleeping bag was set for her, and she lay on it. Her cheeks were flushed red, I couldn't imagine the reason. She looked feverish.

"Why didn't you come to dinner by the fire? A lot of people from the group wanted to meet you."

"I couldn't, I'm a little tired."

"What's wrong?"

"I think I just caught a fever. Maybe it's the sudden change of temperature."

That's why she looked feverish. _She had a fever_. Legit.

"I'm sorry, I'll call on Kevin or any of the warlocks to tend…."

"Oh, please, don't." She begged me, her voice still tired.

"Why not?"

She sighed. "I'm scared! I'm tired of all this and scared! I hardly want to mingle with any of them. At least you are human. Well, not entirely, but at least the closest to being it," she sighed again. "And… I'm becoming one of them. One of those monsters. Am I damned now, Gaby? Am I going to hell?" She looked genuinely scared.

I took a deep breath. "Roxanne… you're not. Look, ages ago, shadowhunters used to despise downworlders and hunt them down like demons. We used to think that because downworlders were part demons or were infected by demon diseases, then they were damned and evil too. But that's not true, you see. A lot of Downworlders are good. They fought our wars with us and helped us. The Clave's law forbids the murder of downworlders who haven't broken any laws, and there are representatives from them in the council, 4, each of them representing his kind. Actually, most shadowhunters have really good downworlder friends, nowadays. Sam and I have 4 amazing downworlder friends in New York. Wait until you meet Moon, she's a werewolf too."

"Well, whatever it is, I don't think I'm ready to interact with any of them right now."

"Alright. I'll take care of you myself. Just wait a minute."

I went out to get water from the dining place. Most of them had gone to sleep, only the vampires and a few others were left. Kevin wasn't there. Grandpa was, and he was talking to Marianne.

I got a bowl of water and a cloth from my cabin and went back to Roxanne's tent. I sat beside her, wet the cloth with the water and placed it on her forehead.

"This should work."

"Thank you." Her tone surprised me. It was delicate and gentle, surprisingly so.

"No problem."

My hand was still on the cloth on her forehead when her look alarmed me. It was flaming and restless and glowing… and straight into my eyes. I shouldn't have been surprised when her hand came above mine, on her forehead, then rested on it gently.

I had never dealt with such a situation. It was more than awkward… It was strange, and saddening. It wasn't her fault to have such feelings, but neither it was mine.

"Roxanne…"

Her eyes didn't quiver, nor did her hand.

"Roxanne, I'm not a lesbian." I told her in a sad voice. I didn't mean for it to be sad; I had tried to state it just matter-of-factly.

Her mouth opened as if to say something, then it closed again. She breathed heavily. Then her hand left mine, and clutched the plastic of the sleeping bag.

"Right, I forgot. You have a crush on Hot Warlock. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"

I cut her off; I didn't want to hear the bitterness of her tone. "Roxanne, it's okay, I just don't want you to…"

"…have feelings for someone who'll never return them? We all did for a part of our lives, didn't we? And I'm used to it. Believe me, it's okay. And you can go back to your tent, you've already done enough. Thank you."

"Roxanne…"

"Gabriella, please, I need to rest."

I sighed. I've never been in one of those complicated romances where you have feelings for a person and another has feelings for you, and I found them quite silly when I read about them, but handling one for real was different. It hurt to know you're hurting somebody who loved you.

I searched for something to say. Finally, the only thing that came to mind was "Goodnight, Roxanne."

"G'night."

I got up and left her tent. In my cabin, on my sleeping bag, I thought of a lot of things: Kevin, Roxanne, the fact that I'm about to reunite with my friends tomorrow, and New York.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

The following day, right after sunset, Kevin, Sam, Anton and I started gathering weapons. We hadn't expected a fight, but Sam and I had decided that a shadowhunter can't simply wander about without weapons, and we insisted on having Kevin and Anton carry some, just in case. Kevin had also thought it was over the top when Sam and I showed up with gear, but this was simply us: Fighters, no matter what. And this was New York we were getting into; even without an _expected_ attack, you probably won't avoid the _unexpected_.

In the end, after sighing and shaking his head and muttering something of which Sam and I only captured "Nephilim" and smiled, Kevin opened the portal.

"Ladies first," he said. I smiled slightly at the view of the buildings of my hometown, I could see the top of the empire state in the distance. I stepped through the portal and I was in New York, in an alley between two buildings with no mundanes around. Smart step, since we were not glamoured. Anton stepped out after me, and then Sam, and Finally Kevin. Sam and I were sniffing the air in nostalgia, even as it smelled of dirt and garbage and… well, it was an _alley_. Kevin was professional and he seemed to have seen the city before, while Anton, who spent his entire life in a small Russian village, was wide-eyed, staring at the high, lit buildings visible from the alley.

"Now we split," said Kevin. "Good luck, guys. And remember: Start from Magnus' apartment. He and Alec have the power to convince the others."

"Noted," said Sam.

After we walked out of the alley and Sam and Anton walked in the direction of Magnus' apartment, Kevin and I were alone. I tried to distract him from the fact.

"Do you have any mundane money? I think we better take a cab. The institute's pretty far from here." I was sure he could just open another portal and we could be right out of the institute instantly, but I wanted to see the city. I think he understood.

"Yes, I think I have some." He took out of his pocket about 30 dollars.

"That will do. Come on."

We were on the main street now. From the distance, I could see the infamous "Radio City Music Hall". Secretly, and in my own apartment only, I had what was close to an obsession with mundane arts, especially movies. That's why I loved this place; seeing it was like being in a classic movie.

I stopped a cab and dove in, and named the church. Kevin sat, a little discomfort in his eyes. I think crowds were not his thing. His eyes flashed red for a moment, and lucky for us the driver was not paying attention. I smiled.

"Your Lucifer is showing," I whispered.

"What?" he asked with wide eyes, now blue, distracted from the thoughts he was inside. The look on his face was adorable.

"Nothing."

I think it hit us at the same moment: It was the first time we were alone since the kiss by the river. I hated awkward moments, and I hated tensional silence.

"Ugh." I said.

"What?" He said, again.

"This is awkward and I hate it. Say something."

"Like what?" His eyes were wide again, but this time, his confusion didn't seem real. He was a bad liar, unlike his father.

"Like, I don't know, you're leading that group of people like a real commander, but you can't hold a conversation about a kiss?"

The driver was pretending not to eavesdrop way _too_ well.

Kevin sighed. "Gaby…"

"Yes, Kevin?"

"I think I…" he paused. He had intended to say something, but couldn't. "…don't want to have this conversation in a cab. Okay? It's a special thing, and… well, you get it."

I think he was aware of how well the driver was pretending not to be listening.

"Alright, then." I said, with a small amused smile.

"And look at your city, we took a cab for that reason, and it's beautiful."

"You actually like it?"

"I do. I visited it about… a while back…" he must have been about to say 60 something years ago or something, but he doesn't even look 20, and he remembered there's a cab driver having fun listening to us… "…with a friend. It has always been beautiful, you know. And the thing about it is that it changes, but doesn't feel like it."

"It's something of a mystery about New York. You can watch all of those old movies and swear it has been the same all along, that all of those clubs and restaurants and music halls and theaters have existed since forever, but you know they haven't." I sounded way too patriotic even to my own ears. Kevin smiled and turned to the window and watched the road with his lips slightly parted.

And then I remembered something he said.

"You came here with a friend?"

He turned to me. "Excuse me?"

"A _female_ friend?"

It took him a second to get what I was saying.

"What makes you think it was a female?"

"I don't know, it's just…" I shrugged, unable to say what I wanted to say with the cab driver eavesdropping.

He chuckled, and for two seconds his two rows of teeth whiter than pearls gleamed in the city light. He then bit his lower lip, still smiling, and looked out the window in amusement, with his hand behind his head, messing with his hair. He looked so stunning I had a really hard time trying to look elsewhere.

The car finally arrived in front of the church. Kevin paid the driver and then we went out.

"So…" said Kevin, almost immediately after the driver had moved away… "What did your question mean?"

"Well, it's because I remembered something you'd said to me by the lake. That it's the first time you felt like that."

"So… you're asking if… I had any experiences with women for the last 90 years?" He looked at me in amused disbelief.

"That's what you said." I was beginning to become nervous; I didn't like the subject very much.

He laughed. "Oh, Gabriella…"

"What?" I sounded angry.

"You don't think I'm a _virgin_, do you?"

I didn't know what to say. Of course, I shouldn't have expected him to be a virgin after… I did the math… 113 years of life. But, aside from the fact that he said he had no "feelings" for anybody before, I'd hoped that he was. Silly.

"So, your experiences before were merely physical?" my tone was colder than I'd expected.

"Not like that. The girls I did like before and interacted with physically, well… I liked them, but not the way I like _you_."

We were already at the door of the sanctuary. "And what is it? The way you like me, that is." My face was hot, and so was my voice.

"Gaby… I want to talk to you about that, thoroughly, but not right now. Not while we're on a mission. After we return to the camp-"

He didn't finish what he was saying. The institute's door opened- the main gate, not the sanctuary's. Someone shot out of the door. No… not someone… two people.

I ran to them, because they were not familiar. They were not Clary or Alec or Isabelle.

When they heard my steps, and Kevin following me, they turned to me. Their expressions were grave. A man and a woman.

The man was tall, strong, slender, marks stood out on the fair skin of his neck and wrests, and under his regular buttoned shirt, he had a perfect shape: Corded muscles covering his arms and his abs and stomach were in perfect shape. His body was that of a man of 30 years old or roughly 40, but looking at his face, he was probably older than Jace, and yet still handsome: Black hair with a touch of silver at some spots, black eyes, luminous and attractive, slightly curvy due to an obvious Asian heritage. The rest of his facial features reminded me of Kevin: Long, bony nose, high cheekbones, full lips… except that his face didn't hide his age; it was wrinkled, but it didn't lack its own beauty.

The woman… was different. She was tall and slender too, but her long, brown hair flew with the air. No marks were visible on her. Her gray eyes were haunting and beautiful, she looked about 20. She was holding the man's hand in a way that didn't imply she was a daughter or a grand daughter. I've seen this sight before: A couple where one's mortal, and the other isn't. Alec and Magnus, Simon and Isabelle… and probably, one day, Kevin and I.

Once saw me, the man's face went blank with thoughts, then he recognized me.

"Gabriella Herondale," he announced.

The woman stopped and looked at me in stupor. I saw the man squeeze her hand. Kevin seemed to recognize them. But he didn't say a word. They both only looked at me, so if they recognized him too, they didn't say anything, either.

"There's no point going in there. Clary's not inside, nobody is." The man said.

"Who are…"

"There's no time. Magnus has just called us. They're under attack. All of them. At Magnus' house."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Kevin started working on a portal immediately. The woman was still looking at me with an unreadable expression in her eyes. The man seemed to deliberately look away. And Kevin still didn't introduce us. The man and the woman looked so curious I had to remind myself that all of my friends and family were being attacked, and that we had to get to them immediately.

I spoke to the man trying, carefully, not to sound too anxious. "What exactly is attacking them? What did Magnus say?"

"Magnus said they were gathered there to talk about your absence, Jace's and your parabatai's. I mean of course your grandmother, Isabelle and Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis, Maia and Jordan Kyle, and your friends, the young downworlders. Apparently it's a big attack, a lot of demons, since they were all there and yet he called me for reinforcements in the middle of the battle."

I shivered.

"Gabriella, I'm sure they're taking care of it," his voice was strangely calming.

"Who are you, and how did you kn-"

"Gaby," said Kevin, "it's not the time. We should hurry."

The portal was open. I could see Magnus' apartment. I jumped through without a thought. The strange couple followed, and then Kevin, who closed the portal fast.

The man asked Kevin and the woman to stay there and protect our backs from possible reinforcements for the other side. We ran upstairs until Magnus' door was in front of us. It was wide open. I only heard a shriek from inside.

I stepped inside, and everyone I loved was lying on the floor, dead.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Isabelle was at my feet, limp, with her eyes wide open and an ugly, bloody gash in her chest. Only steps away, lay Magnus, his face to the ground, his back raked with blood. His fingers were only an inch away from Alec's, who was staring at the ceiling with dead eyes, like his sister, and blood splattered from his mouth. I walked through the mess with my feet limp, moving automatically. I almost collapsed to lie next to them. Clary… Moon… Maia… Jordan… Nicko… Jake… May… Sam… _Sam_…

Something was wrong… Sam can't be dead… I would have felt it… I would…

Steps away, strangers lay in front of me. An Asian woman who looked in her forties lay with her eyes open at the ceiling. A man the same age was beside her. An old man with a winkled face and gray hair, only years older than the man behind me, lay with his eyes closed. A woman and a man with black hair, and a woman with brown hair, who looked in their 30s, all of them, lay dead. And finally… the woman we just left downstairs.

The old, strange man was now standing in front of me. He caught at my shoulders and shook me.

"Gabriella… stop! Think for only a second!" He was yelling.

"Dead," I whispered. "All of them… my… my parabatai…"

"Gabriella, your parabatai can't be dead. You would have felt it! It is Agramon!"

My brain worked the name… _Agramon_…

"Do you mean they're not…"

"They're not dead. Do you know who those are? My parents, my parabatai, and my wife and children, dead."

"What do we…"

"Stab them! All of them!"

"But… I can't…"

"Yes you can!" He already had a dagger I don't know where from. "Stab all of them. They're his embodiment. They're not our family, Gabriella, they're _not_!" he said it while stabbing the old man with the gray hair. I was horrified.

"He is NOT my parabatai! He is not William! They are not your family! Gabriella, do it! Do it or he will kill us, and kill them for real!"

His words got me out of my death. I took a seraph blade out of my weapon belt and named it. "Jophiel!"

The blade shone, and I started stabbing my dead family.

When I did, black ichor sprayed from their chests. The man was in the process of killing his dead wife when the corpses disappeared.

Agramon changed form, as he realized we were killing him. In front of the man and me, stood the two demons that we feared most.

In front of the man, stood a being, about 9 feet tall, its body was silver and formless, only two arms sprung out of the thing where its torso was supposed to be. Its eyes ashen, and they were the only clearly shaped thing in his face. It was a greater demon. I saw the man look at it in horror and whisper, "Yanluo."

My own demon was smaller in size, but I was much less lucky. It was Lucifer, of course, who else?

Now that Agramon was no longer my dead family, I could see them coming out of the rooms of the apartment. Isabelle and Magnus were out of a room, their clothes and faces covered in ichor, and they smelled of demons. Nicko, Anton, Sam, Alec and Moon came out from a corridor. They looked surprised to see me and the man, but it was not the time for greetings.

"Gabriella!" Isabelle yelled.

"Isabelle!"

But there was no time for a conversation. Lucifer was already smiling his frightening smile, and coming closer to me. The strange man stood by my side, frozen, as the demon he called Yanluo charged. I could swear he had a history with that demon.

"James!" Magnus yelled. His fingers shot flames at the demon. Finally, I'll have a name to call him other than 'the man'.

As the demon retreated, Magnus yelled other things at James. I could only capture "Agramon" and "Not the demon who killed your family". How did Magnus recognize the demon so immediately?

James finally recollected himself, and slashed the thing with his dagger. The thing disappeared, and ichor sprayed across James' face and clothes, and his arms shot to his eyes to protect them.

But I had no time to observe, now. Only two feet from me, stood Lucifer, and said, "We meet again, Gabriella Herondale." I'd given Lucifer all the time to attack, and now, I saw his hand shooting to my neck.

But that was just when Kevin and the woman, James' wife, had ran through the apartments open door, and a dagger I don't know where he got had slashed his father's throat.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

"Then again, we're lucky it was Agramon…"

"The real Lucifer would never have died so easily…"

"Such a strange attack, at a strange time…"

"Lucifer must have sent them…"

We were sitting around the fire in the camp site. My family and loved ones, who were alive and okay, were all around me. Kevin and Magnus had worked their best to heal those who got injured. I drew an iratze on Sam, and I saw Isabelle and Clary draw iratzes on each other.

The reunion between my grandparents had been bad enough. After the hug, Clary's eyes shot Jace an angry look, she simply didn't seem to hear his explanations, and she turned away and left for a tent that we had set up for her. Isabelle looked at him in disgust and did the same. Magnus seemed to scold him a little bit, then went away to help the injured. Same about Simon and Maia and Jordan, and then the last two sat in their own corner and chatted together. Alec, however, didn't talk to grandpa at all. Grandpa shot him a sad look from time to time, but Alec was studiously ignoring him.

Beside me, sat James. His wife (I learned her name was Tessa, and I remembered them from the conversation between grandpa and Kevin the day before… the Carstairs) refused to let go of his hand, since he faced Agramon. I guess we sat together because the experience had united us, somehow. I learned from the others that they hadn't faced Agramon, but Raveners and Oni demons. Agramon was sent in when the sender (And we all knew, somehow, that it was Lucifer) learned of his son's involvement, and mine and Sam's. But, of course, Agramon was a special little paternal gift to Kevin, most specially.

"How did you know it was Agramon, right away?"

James Carstairs didn't need me to repeat my question.

"Simple. My parents and my parabatai have died ages ago, we had just left Tessa downstairs, and my daughters and son are in England. There's no way their corpses could have been there."

"But that requires wide knowledge of demonology, to recognize a specific demon's work so instantly. Even wider than the knowledge of a normal shadowhunter."

He smiled. His smile could have been beautiful if it was real. "I've had my time to study, in the silent city. Not to mention that I _did_ face Agramon's doing, once."

_In the silent city…_

"I remember you now. You're Jem. Grandpa talked about you sometimes. You used to be a silent brother, didn't you? You visited him sometimes, when I was a child. You're friends. But… why don't I know you better? Why haven't you visited ever since?"

He smiled again, and this time it was real, but sad. "The reason I didn't visit your grandpa more ofter, Gaby, is not that I didn't want to or simply gave up his friendship, it is, in fact, that the sight of your grandfather causes too many bad memories." I noticed now that he had a pleasant British accent.

I felt, somehow, that this was all connected. Him, grandpa, those bad memories he's talking about, his wife, who still regarded me, from time to time, with different expressions, his recognition of me from the first sight, all of this…

"Who are you, James? And what is your relation to me, and to grandpa, and to my family?"

But it wasn't him who answered. It was his wife.

"I heard about a copy of A Tale of Two Cities that is a Herondale heritage. Do you have it, Gaby?" It was the first time she spoke to me, and her voice sounded strangely sad. "You should, if you're the last Herondale."

"I do," I said. "Isn't it the one that has a faded letter on the first page, with the signature of William Herondale?"

She smiled at the name. "You probably know that he is your ancestor, but what you don't know is that he was my husband, and Jem's parabatai. The book was a gift from him to me."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Nicko, Sam, Moon, Jake and May came to sit with me near midnight, and Jem and Tessa retreated to a far corner. Sam and I had to apologize to the others a thousand times for leaving them behind on this mission.

"I thought you guys had gotten over the fact that we were downworlders. We're fighters, just like you are." Jake's words met general agreement from the others.

"Jake…" I started, but I was too exhausted to argue. Sam continued for me. "It has nothing with the fact that you're downworlders. You're our friends, and we wanted you involved in as little trouble as possible."

"Dude, no! Don't talk to me about trouble! We've already been there before! Lucifer, remember? And demon hunting, every summer?"

"I know, Jake, I know."

"Whatever. I'm going back to our tent. May, when you're finished with those two…"

"Yeah, 'Get a room'," I said, trying to change the subject.

"Haha." Jake looked at me with the corner of his eye, then went to his tent.

May was looking at us. Her grass green eyes were furious.

"I don't even know why I'm looking at the two of you right now. I could be having some awesome time with my boyfriend."

"May, Sam and I are awesomely attractive, surely looking at us is better than having awesome time with your boyfriend."

"Yeah? No. I don't even enjoy looking at traitors. No matter how attractive, you know."

"Come on, May, ease up." Sam's voice was amused.

"Not a word from you, traitor. You're even worse than her. She left us for a few days, you left us for months. Traitor. Not worthy of being in team good!"

She was already getting up to follow Jake. I thought Moon was going to take her turn in scolding us, but apparently, she was staring elsewhere.

"Who is she?" she asked me curiously. I followed her eyes. She was staring at Roxanne, who had finally decided to get out of her tent. She was sitting next to Anton, who was recovering from an injury, and having a conversation that seemed really awkward.

Ugh. I remembered last night's situation. How was I going to look her in the eyes or talk to her again? And then I remembered that Moon had asked a question.

"She's Russian, her name is Roxanne. Werewolf. Was only bitten a few days ago."

"Oh, poor girl. She'll probably need a little help from a praetor. See you later, guys."

Moon went and sat beside Roxanne, and in her eyes was a feeling bigger than curiosity.

When I shifted my eyes to Sam to talk about it, he and Nicko were having a low-voice conversation. Sam was laughing in a way I've never seen him do before. Now Roxanne and Moon, _that_ I would see coming; they were both very pretty, both werewolves, Roxanne was a lesbian, and Moon had never shown a sign of _really_ liking a boy before. But… Sam and Nicko? Now _that_ couldn't be. Sam was with a bunch of girls, and I would know if he was gay. Surely I would.

I sighed. That didn't matter, Sam and Nicko's conversation obviously didn't include me, Moon and Roxanne seemed to be having a really pleasant one, and Jake and May were having "awesome time" in their tent. This left me in terrible longing for Kevin. I searched him with my eyes. He was at a far corner, sitting alone. Obviously at his own wish. It suddenly hit me: I should be by his side. The attack was partly personal on him, by his own father, and in the end, he had to slay a demon that took the shape of his father by himself.

I walked to him, and sat beside him.

"Do you want me to leave?" I asked when he didn't turn to me.

He turned to me, then. "No. I don't."

He stayed silent for minutes. "Such a strange timing for an attack. The heads of the New York Institute and a group of their downworlder friends gather to discuss some matters, and then they get attacked by a big number of demons. Once we get involved too, and by utter chance, a greater demon of fear is sent for us." He paused. "It's him. He sent them. My father."

"He is not your father, Kevin."

"But he is. I inherited most things from him."

"He is not. All he did was impregnate your mother, Kevin, that doesn't make him your father. You said it yourself, the night I came to you."

He ignored this. "There's a traitor from the inside, you know. One of us. Someone who informed Lucifer about our involvement. Now I have to discover who this person is, and this won't be easy. Not only strategically, but emotionally. I think of most of those people as the family I never had."

I held his hand.

"Are you sure you want to stay with me, though? I've only just committed patricide." His amusement was only half real. His voice had a bitter touch to it.

"Okay, first of all, this wasn't really Lucifer, Kevin, it was Agramon. And second of all, you have the worst father in the world, Kevin, literally, the world would thank you to really kill him. Also, like I said, he isn't your father."

"Do you think he wants me to join him, Gaby?"

My mouth fell open. "Well… I'm sure he does, doesn't he? He wants all of his offspring to join him, you guys are strong warlocks. The question here is not what _he_ wants, it's what _you_ want."

"And what is that?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What is it that I want, Gaby?"

I thought about it.

"In reality, I want nothing. My life itself, I'm living it because I was born to it, and that's all. I don't have a real purpose, I don't have a special thing that I want to do."

I felt nervous. "But you want me, isn't this true?"

"It is. I want you, Gaby, always. But you're mortal. Your life, no matter how long it will be, isn't but a slither of mine. After you, Gaby, what will remain for me?"

I looked around. I looked in their faces. Magnus Bane… Simon Lewis… Tessa Carstairs. How their eyes hung on their partners, how they were full of longing and lingering, scared of the moment the lives of those they loved ends. And yet they were living… What was the reason?

I thought about it for a moment.

"Maybe, Kevin Grey… what will remain for you is the fact that I want you to live. To be happy. To have a purpose. To do the things you love. Even to find someone else, someone immortal, this time, who'll make you happy forever."

He only looked at me for seconds, then looked down. "You're right," he said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so morose. I should just live the moment we're in, not waste any moment of the time we're together."

"So it's true, then. Only a few days after we've met, and yet you're so sure of it."

"What is it?"

"You're in love with me."

His arms wrapped around me gently. He looked straight into my eyes for a moment, and then kissed me, careless of all the people around us, my family and friends and his.

When he let go of me, he whispered, "For the rest of me eternity."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.


End file.
